General Discussion
Does Dawlish need a Tesco Supermarket??
How do the locals feel about the possibility of Tesco supermarket building at Sandy Lane?
I live on the Elm Grove Estate and am not sure if I like the idea or not. It would be great having a large supermarket closer to home but will it spoil the estate? How do others feel??
This is interesting that the two posts so far are not outrightly against Tesco's at Sandy Lane.
If you listen to Dare's propoganda you'd believe that ALL of Dawlish's residents were carrying flaming torches ready to lynch Tesco's if they set so much as a foot in town.
Personally, I'd prefer the supermarket out at Shutterton.
Funny you should say that. Because that is where it is going to be. Don't ask me how I know, but I do have inside information. They have already bought the land.
Having lived in Dawlish for the past 7 years I find it amazing that sandy lane is been considered for development by the likes of Tesco, or whoever, it would be a massive blow for small retail shops on the high street, don’t get me wrong I do believe in fair competition and shoppers having a choice but in reality how can they compete with the Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s of to-day. I fear that Dawlish would subsequently become a ghost town you might want to check out the following link which shows what happens when large stores such as Wal-Mart hit towns in the USA.
http://www.walmartmovie.com/
i'm glad tesco's is coming to dawlish at last!! who can afford co op and costcutters prices? not me! i am sincerely glad it will not be situated on sandy lane and also glad it will be at shutterton!
How do you know it is going to be Tesco at Shutterton? There have been rumours of Sainsburys buying land at Shutterton!!
I think you will find that Tesco have bought an option for the lease of the football ground.
If Tesco come to town just imagine that traffic snarl up with the number of cars and delivery lorries to and fro, and during the summer tourist season nothing will move, and the centre of town will die.
As a regular 'visitor' to Dawlish during the summer months (winter aswell sometimes) this is my view.
I am assuming Sandy lane and Shutterton are on the outskirts of Dawlish - sorry my geography of Dawlish is not comprehensive but I am sure they are.
While staying in Dawlish on my visits there is no way I would bother to get in my car to buy food from these areas. They are for locals. I always spend all my 'eating' money in establishments within the the main town.I am sure other visitors or tourists would aswell.
Therefore the town centre would not be 'dead' during summer at least. Many older locals would also probably not bother to shop too far out?
Build the Tesco but I don't think it would affect the town centre trading too much.
This is my view anyway. Might be wrong.
Yes Dawlish does need a supermarket. Ilike many other families are fed up with having to drive miles to get a weekly shop,the co-op is always short of many everyday items also in the height of the season you can't get pass the door.
I don't think a supermarket at sandy lane or the shutterton will affect the few shops we have as they have their dedicated customers
If people don't want to shop in Dawlish they won't they will catch the FREE bus to M&S, Sainsbury's or Tesco. Other option would be shop on line.
There are many people like myself who travel to Newton or Exeter Tescos or Asda having one in Dawlish will help the enviroment it wont kill the town center as that caters for a different kind of shopper.
Other than the Delhis and bakers all the food shops belong to a chain.
A market once a week would be good on the lawn or down the Strand this would fetch people in from surrounding area.
Dawlish needs to wake up to the 21st centuary
Tesco, being one of the bigger food outlets in the country, are not only interested in food. But to give you an example of what will happen, look at what Stoke's did? They killed off the competition and they now sell produce that is labled "class 1" at class 1 prices, but most of it would not be officially declared class 3. Daylight robbery.
But then many people like being robbed, don't they?
Dawlish tried a farmers market on the lawn once every two weeks, i seem to remember the local traders weren't too happy with the situation. How many local traders can truthfully say they do not shop at out of town supermarkets.
perhaps this could lead to new job opportunities to the local people? If they are successful in building a new supermarket lets hope they don't poach any staff from co-op!!
Talking from past personal experience (Tesco and Sainsburys came into my area), a move to Sandy Lane for one of the two will be the toll of death for a quaint old devon town. You may think that by having one of these stores, you will "move into the 21st century", but I think that one day you will wish the 20th one had never ended. The local shops that you have left will gradually fall by the wayside, and you will be left with fairly cheap food, but fairly average quality. Dawlish is a predominantly over 60s domain, and the fewer local shops that there are the harder life will become for people. Please act now to save what you have left. If you want Dawlish to become Teignmouth or Torquay then why not just move there?! Having said all of that, I have to say that the current crop of Dawlish shops is not that special.
Go to the greengrocers in teignmouth its a local shop run by local people with a great variety of different veg and fruit
Sandy Lane is not for sale.
Listen to the leader of Teignbridge Council on 'BBC Radio Devon phone in' today. He confirms the land is not for sale. To listen go to .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/local_radio/ and click listen again Thursday phone in. It is in the last thirty minutes of the 2 hr show.
I think i know the shop you mean, a lot of the produce is grown at port road. Good fresh produce at reasonable prices just a shame you have to go to Teignmouth for it.
Price competition to begin with yes! But then once it's KILLED off the town centre, the prices will change, and Dawlish will be a captive audience for Tesco - a Trolley Town, with no choice, no local retailers, a ghost-town full of card shops and charity shops. Do we really want this?
Yes, it might "only" be a smaller Tesco to begin with - but that's the start of the rot. they grow, expand, have larger car parks and attract housing developments. The deliveries are 24/7, shoppers and lorries clogging up roads. Our leisure area will be decimated. The "only" element might last for a short while, but then it will turn into "if only". If only we'd stood up to them and said NO TESCO
At what cost - Tescos controls over 30% of the grocery market in teh UK. With profits of over 2 and a half BILLION this year - growing evidence indicates that their success and continued expansion is based partly on practices that are having serious consequesnces for small shops, local communities, farmers and workers WORLDWIDE and the environment.
Check out www.tescopoly.org - that reading will make your hair curl - it is utterly shocking how they want to take over the world, and if we don't stand up to them they will.
Wherever a supermarket is situated will result in the town becoming a ghost town within two years - most businesses will fold within that time frame.
Local shops will find it impossible to compete with a supermarket. Which is bad news for local economies and communities. It will mean less choice, fewer jobs, it will erode the social glue holding the community together, and it will make it harder for disadvantaged folks without cars to buy healthy food.
Prices in teh supermarket will not be comparable to Newton Abbot or Exeter, and once Co-Op is forced out of business - prices could go sky high, but by then dear residents of Dawlish - IT WILL BE TOO LATE....
So come on we ALL need to fight this - together we can win.
Go to www.sandylane.btik.com and see what the DADS - Dawlish Against Developing Sandy Lane group are doing....
I would much prefer it if Sainsuery where going to build a supermarket in Dawlish. There products are much superior to Tesco. To be honest they only people to object to a supermarket on Sandy Lane are the people who back onto the proposed site. I'd love to be ale to shop local.
I agree. I think the people who back onto the propossed site think it's their extended garden by putting up fancy fences and gates.
Did they get permission from the council to do that? Iwonder......
I have watched with amusement the arguements for and against having a supermarket in Dawlish.
If we are luckily enough to get one it wont kill the town the majority of shops are for the tourists. Stokes Co-op Lloyd Maunders Lloyds the chemist Woolworths Costcutters are all chains the only independants are the Bakeries and Delhi
Any supermaarket would be a good thing for us all I go to Newton Abbot Tescos or Asda AND then walk round the town its thriving all the small surrounding village people would come to shop in Dawlish before or after getting their main shop
Tesco does not put up prices when local shoppers , migrate to Tesco and put any erstwhile local profiteers out of business.
Stop spreading such untruthful propaganda! What you don't know you simply make up !
Its a free country and they should be allowed to participate in the market.
I fail to see how Dawlish would suffer from a Tesco store.
Driving down the Strand last night, the only Retailers that would have to compete are the Bakers and Butchers, everything else is Cafes and Charity shops. Loyal followers will still support the local butcher and baker and specialist deli.
This town has deteriorated over the years, there is nothing here to interest the young people in staying and it is run by an older generation who neither understand the needs of the young or care for those needs!
Tesco would bring in recruitment, they will also ensure that rip off Retailers including Costcutters and Coop would have to compete and stop charging us higher prices. It would also get Coop to get its act together and run it as they should!
Competition for the town is a good thing, the problem with Dawlish is it is frightened of change, it cannot continue to stay in the dark ages and has to move with the times, otherwise by the time all the wrinklies have moved to higher ground, there will be no youngsters to take their places.
On the subject of wrinklies, why do we have so many Charity shops? Who authorised Betfred (isn't one enough in Dawlish?) and why have Ann Summers been given the go ahead for a shop in the old cafe in the Strand?
This is a very complex issue in which the views of those who will live close to the proposed development need to be considered. Whilst the availability of a wide range of 'cheap' goods might seem tempting, there are isues of traffic flow in an area where there are regular accidents (most recent the Elm Grove Jct and today by Marine garage.) Equally, the importance of open spaces and facilities to exercise is supported by irrefutable evidence. The balance between small purveyors and supermarkets is a contentious issue and it seems that there may well develop a situation in which too much control is placed in the hands of large commercial enterprise who will then be able to manipulate the markets to the detriment of the consumers. A fundamental question that we have to consider is whether the market driven consumerism that we accept as viable today is sustainable. If we experience a computer crash engineered by say the Chinese who can hack inot most systems, a mutant virus causing say 10% mortality, or the unlikely scenario of terrorist or politrically engineered fuel blockade, the loss of a local infrastructeure may prove significant. Fundamentally, I would rephrase the question: Do we need Teignbridge District Council....are they good husbands of our society. In effect, we own Sandy Lane and have to decide on our personal priorities together with our own appreciation of what is in the general interest, and trust that the Council are not being swayed by sweeteners; and in the final analysis, do they give a damn about Dawlish. There has been little effort to revitalise the community, of which the football club is a part. Parking is seen as a method of raising revenue not as a method of enabling community interaction or social development, and open spaces are seen as assets to exploit finacially rather than as facilities to enhance quality of life. We have no real integrated transport systen and very little real resources for the young people of the town. Hopefully we will soon have a 24/7 Youth centre with constructive interaction between the young and old fuddy duddies like me together with a skate park. I would prefer to see the youngsters running about and having fun rather than scrawling graffiti(does anybody ever use the singular graffito these days?) on a Tesco wall.
Would the provision of a Tesco at Sandy Lane set a precedent for further development? Is there not a better site? What are the ethics of the planners/
Does it have to be Tesco....Could not TDC get their act together and build a community emporium rather like the genesis of the Coop?....whatever happens, I have no doubt that vested interest will control the issue and someone will make a bob or two out of the development, and it won't be those who most need it! I regularly shop at Tesco in Exeter and Newton Abbot, and a cheap supetmarket would be convenient in Dawlish, however we have to consider other aspects of our culture than the short term fix of shopping is it retrograde to suggest that there are cultural benefits in having small specialist shops? Teignbridge could reduce their tax burden to allow then to be competetive and there are ways to allow diversity.
It is possible that when Tesco own all the properties in the UK, the term NIMBY may actually be literal rather than figurative; and with food prices beyond the reach of the proletariat, we might long to go back to a bit of fuedalism.
Dear Mad Dave,
Mad as in 'insane' is the last thing you are. Or do you mean mad as in 'angry'?
I love your posting. I only wish others thought about things a bit more.
yes Olive, regarding your posting Boots, etc are all chains but chains have to be profitable and have targets. If they fail to reach these targets they are closed. What becomes of our Post Office if One-Stop is not viable, no-one else will want to take on a Post Office at the moment (other than Tesco of course!) Who wants to see lots of empty shops on The Strand - empty shops bring despair, vandalism and lack of community to the high street!
Has been since the new refit.
Nobody likes Tesco so lets have a Sainsburys, but then they have more sense.lol.
Yes Dawlish does need a Tesco, i think the main volume of traffic will be between the football club and Exeter Road. I dont think the housing estate nearby wil see much of an increase.
Also Tesco plan to insatall a mini roundabout by the football club and traffic lights on the Sandy Lane/Exeter Road junction which will ease congestion.
Whilst I couldn't agree more about slowing down the speed of some of the traffic on Exeter Road there's slowing down and slowing down. I can see in high summer a complete and utter dead slow.
Don't need a supermarket or a roundabout or traffice lights- just put speed cameras along Exeter Road. That should do it. Supermarket can be located somewhere else.
All i can say is i read all your replys and im stunned !
Fistly Tesco would create over 200 localjobs!!
2ndly you will have convient store within walking distance , 3rdly what are you gaing and what are you loosing !!!
you loose a 2 pitches of football that so called dog lovers allow there dogs to crap on it and not clean up .... and what are you gaining a state of the art superstore with loads of benefits to dawlish and including business ,. move on Bring TESCO here i cant wait
Um!!!! The store might be in walking distance of some people but certainly not all. And anyway of those who would live near enough to it to walk how often would that happen? People use cars to do a supermarket shop however near they live to it. Why do you think it will have a car park?!
What will the jobs be? I'd like to see a full breakdown of those jobs. Are 2x p/t time ones counted as two jobs for example? What career prospects?
Can someone please explain why having a supermarket will magically revitalise the town, help with housing etc etc. The logic of that reasoning is totally lost on me.
And anyway, even all of the above were okay (and I don't think it is) there is still no reason why the supermarket has to be sited at Sandy Lane. All the above would hold (or not) irrespective of the location of the supermarket.
ok well if you want proof about the posibilities of the regeneration of the town, i suggest you look at shepton mallet in somerset where after locating a tesco store to within resonable distance of the town center a dying town where 1 in 4 shops were closed or closing has now had a total turn around where i counted only 1 empty which was being refurbished to make room for a new green grocers! with regard to jobs etc, they are a national chain so you can progress any way you want to within the company as well and it will be a proper 200 jobs when you think about not just the till staff but also all the admin staff, warehouse staff, maintanance staff etc.
Has anyone visited Axminster recently. There is a Tesco supermarket within a 3 minute walk to the high street and I don't recall seeing lots of shops closed down. In fact the high street there seemed vibrant.
You are arguing that a supermarket does not kill off a town centre. That is open to contention. Even if you were right however, why does it follow that the supermarket has to be sited at Sandy Lane?
There is always The Lawn! .. that would put an end to the boring fair and Tesco would be in the centre of town. The town would not be quiet then would it? ..the Post Office can be relocated inside too, you can weigh your parcels with your shopping at the checkout, just so easy.
Grass over the roof, add a play area and a slide, seats around the edge.. that will keep the kids busy whilst you're shopping. No chance of cars running them over. Lovely views around Dawlish!
You can simply walk over to support the the butchers and the veg shop as they would be just over the road from Tesco, they are cheaper than supermarkets as you know. So the town wins every each way and the Coop that you all hate so much will go away.
Problem solved.
... (well you all do need lighening up a bit all the heavy posts)
for the people that think tesco would make our town a ghost town,you must be living in the dark ages,a supermarket for this town would be the making of it not the demise,i have worked in managements for 20 years and it is the making of a town,and if any town needs a helping hand this is it.
and as they have said they will help the town in any way they can,then we should be adult enough to let them help,because the shops are closing already unless you hadn't noticed and that is without a supermarket,so all i can say is BRING IT ON and the sooner the better in my view,and as for the football pitch where they want to build,the last time i went to the pitch there were 12 supporters,so no-one is supporting what we have so lets use the space for our advantage.
So what if a supermarket does not come to Dawlish? Do you really think Tesco/Sainsbury's will just go away? They will not. They are in business and will set up in the next available location - Teignmouth!!! See if you can work out what effect that will have on an already struggling town. A good number of people fighting the supermarkets are over working age. I get the impression that they do not care about those who have to work or will have to work in the future. There are already a good number of charity shops in Dawlish - one of whom had to close because even they could not make it pay. At one of the public meetings the supermarket estimated up 70% of local people buy the majority of their food shopping out of town. This was backed by loyalty card information. There is a misconception that people buy in Dawlish - they do not!!! Has anyone been down the Strand on a Saturday recently? I don't know if a supermarket on Sandy Lane is a good thing but I do know we have to change in Dawlish, and fast. Perhaps we should be positve about something once in a while.
Teignmouth is too close to the Newton Abbot store so is not a business option.
Agree ..people living here do not buy anything unless desperate.
Beer and pubs is all they spend big money on.
The store needs to be on the Exeter side of town. Tesco have said it will be half the size of Newton, so surely people will still go out of town. As I said earler people never spend where they live, something about you know the people checkout staff and they may judge what you buy/gossip or the grass is greener on other side. or it's a day out, if you have a car you better make use of it.
An interesting point on prices. People hardly ever reject or question a price of an item when away from home, accept it and pay it whatever. I give you one example, two weeks ago I bought a pack of Mars bars for £1.35 in Iceland, I popped into Coop here for just milk and spotted the SAME Mars bar pack on offer at 99p. You see what I mean.. but that kind of thing would never get mentioned. Swings and roundabouts. Soemtimes you need to count your time, the petrol and running costs.
You must remember any large Supermarket are after your money, thats why veg is first as you walk in, they make most out of that and at the end of your shop you find wine and beer.. you feel you need a reward for yourself and most will pick a bottle up... then in the queue as you wait tempted by sweets etc. The larger the trolley the more will go in.
Online shopping is the best way and no hassles... you calmly select and don't get tempted to overspend.
The people that use the new Tesco will probably be a third Dawlish people two thirds from outside.
Its not going to be exactly large! and no why sell grass land for a supermarket, it will never be green again, im affraid its all down to greed!
For those of you who don't think Dawlish needs a supermarket spare a thought for the people who cannot afford fancy prices that our local shops offer.
Not everyone can travel miles to get their shopping nor beable to shop online as there are still people who don't have access to a computer.
Just one example, today i needed milk and cereal, the price difference in 2 shops were,milk 66p against 74p and cereal 1.45 against 1.69.
Imagine what the difference would be on a weeks shopping.
I can't see a supermarket affecting the few local shops that seem to be doing o.k. The holiday makers will always shop in the town as long as GAY'S CREAMERY are there because where else would they get their delicious ice creams, cream teas and reasonably priced gifts.
And what about the town traders when the holiday makers aren't there (which is the vast majority of the time).What then? And anyways just because the holiday makers may go along the Strand and Brunswick doesn't mean that they will be buying other stuff,like food and drink, there. They'll be doing all that at the supermarket!
AND MY POINT being the extortionate prices some people just cannot afford to pay.
Holiday makers and sunday visitors will always strole around the town and sit in the lawn eating their ice creams etc, or do you think they will drive to the nearest supermarket to buy them and then drive back to sit in the lawn or walk around town to eat them!!!!!!!
Idon't think so.
and what about the other shops in the town centre that aren't necessarily tourist orientated like; butcher, bakers, greengrocers, shoe shops, chemists, florists, Woolworths, 3 x convenience stores, newagents etc. They could all go to the wall and to be replaced with what?
Of course what people dont realise is, even if you paid 10p an item more in town .. 50 items you pay £5 more than at Asda / Tesco. In fact you would spend less in real terms, the big stores tempt you to fill that trolly and people do.
How much does it cost to drive, fuel etc .. and what is your own time worth? Do you like the queues?
Again you only get the downside here, see the posting earlier .. 're Iceland, Newton, the Mars Bar special pack of 5 at £1.35, called in Coop, Dawlish for milk and spotted the same Mars Bars on special at 99p.'
Positives will never be posted.