Convience....but at what price? (Spar)

Member Name: valve90210

Product:	Spar
Date:	02/10/08 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A wide range of goods

Disadvantages: Detrimental to smaller local businesses?

While a lot of people will see Spar as a handy chain of stores giving a bit of convience to areas which often are not close to a big supermarket, I am not so convinced by them. Yes they do provide a more convient place to shop that might be useful for people that are unable to get a supermarket...but at what cost?

In the village I grew up in, there used to be a lovely little shopping area which the people of the village all used to frequent. It was to an extent a thriving place. There was a video rental shop, two green grocers, an off licence etc etc. However, since the Spar moved in several of these other shops, which were run by local people, have closed down because they were unable to compete with the Spar, who, as a fairly big group, had much greater buying power and much more financial backing.

The village still has somewhere to get fresh vegetables and to rent dvds etc etc but they are all in one shop, the Spar. Not only this but now being the only place in the village to get a lot of things, their pricing seems to be a little steep as there is no competition!

Overall I would say, yes it's convient but is it really a good thing?

Summary: A good thing or not?