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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 20 March 2009

A shopping revolution

• ROY Osborne’s letter (Shelf life, March 6) welcomes a new Tesco in Pimlico.
I am not flying the flag for any particular supermarket but Mr Osborne has hit the nail on the head when he says that in the 1970s it was not the supermarkets who caused the closure of small businesses, it was the “corner shops”.
When I returned to London in the 1970s I was astonished to find so many corner shops open as late as midnight and including Sundays.
Normal shops closed at around 5.30pm and all day on Sundays.
Higher prices were charged for the convenience of late-night and Sunday shopping.
A thing supermarkets never do is stick a note on their door reading, “back in five minutes”.
The twist with some independent shopkeepers is that, whilst they want consumers to buy their products, when they themselves want to buy and item they do not stock they don’t patronise another local shop, they go to the supermarket.
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Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld.
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THE writer of March 20 (A shopping Revolution) claims to "not [be] flying the flag for any particular supermarket."

In, and immediately adjacent to, Fitzrovia there are ten Tesco and Sainsbury supermarkets. My objection is not that people exercise their choice to use these outlets but that the choice is so limited. Wouldn't it be in the interests of the consumer to have other chains of supermarkets within half a square km, not just Tesco and Sainsburys? Why do Camden and Westminster councils allow this virtual duopoly?
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