Post by a more piratey game on Oct 11, 2014 14:10:43 GMT
Tesco scraps Margate megastore as shoppers spurn weekly food shop
After years of campaigning for planning permission, the supermarket giant has ditched plans for a superstore on the Kent seafront
Tesco has abandoned plans to build a new superstore on Margate seafront, as convenience stores and the internet continue to lure shoppers away from large out-of-town stores.
The UK’s largest grocer had fought for five years to get planning permission at the site next to Dreamland theme park. Approval was finally given by the Government in June 2013.
However, Tesco has now performed a U-turn on its plans for a 82,000sq ft store. “We are reducing the number of large stores we open each year as a result of changing customer shopping habits. After careful consideration we have therefore decided not to pursue a new large store in Margate,” the firm said in a statement.
Tesco has written to the site’s owner, Freshwater Developments, to end the contract.
The superstore had been the subject of controversy for some years. A Facebook group set up to campaign against the proposals said residents were concerned about the level of traffic that would come with a superstore “as big as two football pitches” .
Mary Portas had also spoken out against the proposals. “Tesco backtrack is great news for Margate,” the Government’s “high street Tsar” tweeted.
Tesco’s change of direction in Margate comes after it abandoned plans for new stores in Ilkley, Yorkshire, and Romsey, Hampshire.
In August Tesco’s plans for new stores in Bude, Cornwall, and Camberley, Surrey, were rejected by local councillors.
It has been estimated that Tesco is losing more than 1m shoppers a week as consumers continue to shop around.
Faced with more choice than ever, the weekly shop has been replaced by more frequent trips to convenience stores, while discount chains Lidl and Aldi are also growing in popularity.
There are 482 Tesco superstores across the UK, broadly flat on the 481 it owned in 2013. The number of Express stores have risen from 1,547 to 1,672 in the past year.
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11154818/Tesco-scraps-Margate-megastore-as-shoppers-spurn-weekly-food-shop.html
After years of campaigning for planning permission, the supermarket giant has ditched plans for a superstore on the Kent seafront
Tesco has abandoned plans to build a new superstore on Margate seafront, as convenience stores and the internet continue to lure shoppers away from large out-of-town stores.
The UK’s largest grocer had fought for five years to get planning permission at the site next to Dreamland theme park. Approval was finally given by the Government in June 2013.
However, Tesco has now performed a U-turn on its plans for a 82,000sq ft store. “We are reducing the number of large stores we open each year as a result of changing customer shopping habits. After careful consideration we have therefore decided not to pursue a new large store in Margate,” the firm said in a statement.
Tesco has written to the site’s owner, Freshwater Developments, to end the contract.
The superstore had been the subject of controversy for some years. A Facebook group set up to campaign against the proposals said residents were concerned about the level of traffic that would come with a superstore “as big as two football pitches” .
Mary Portas had also spoken out against the proposals. “Tesco backtrack is great news for Margate,” the Government’s “high street Tsar” tweeted.
Tesco’s change of direction in Margate comes after it abandoned plans for new stores in Ilkley, Yorkshire, and Romsey, Hampshire.
In August Tesco’s plans for new stores in Bude, Cornwall, and Camberley, Surrey, were rejected by local councillors.
It has been estimated that Tesco is losing more than 1m shoppers a week as consumers continue to shop around.
Faced with more choice than ever, the weekly shop has been replaced by more frequent trips to convenience stores, while discount chains Lidl and Aldi are also growing in popularity.
There are 482 Tesco superstores across the UK, broadly flat on the 481 it owned in 2013. The number of Express stores have risen from 1,547 to 1,672 in the past year.
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11154818/Tesco-scraps-Margate-megastore-as-shoppers-spurn-weekly-food-shop.html
