When I was growing up, we had these things called local shops. Where I lived, they were often arranged in a row of several different shops in the centre of what was generally a residential area. This row of shops generally contained a greengrocers, a newsagents (or "sweet shop" as us kids liked to call it), a chemist's, and maybe something like a fish and chip shop or a butcher's. In some, more densely packed areas, a single "cornershop" might have served the roles of both greengrocer and newsagents (perhaps even offering basic, over-the-counter medicines too).
The best thing about local shops though was that (you've guessed it) they were local! You could walk there from your home in a couple of minutes. Mums could stop off and pick something up for tea whilst walking their kids home from school, and older kids walking home by themselves could stop off and buy sweets, crisps, and drinks. Local shops were ideal!
However, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, these things called supermarkets started appearing. These "super markets" promised to provide you with everything you could get at your local shop, and more, but at much cheaper prices. These large supermarket chains such as Tesco and Asda had massive amounts of money to spend on marketing and they bombarded consumers with their message:
"Why bother visiting several different shops when you can get it all from us... and cheaper?"
Soon, consumers were buying into the "promised land" of supermarkets. There was no way that the local shops could compete with the rock-bottom prices or marketing power of these large chains, so they went out of business. The parades that once housed the local shops were often knocked down to make way for houses, or converted into accommodation themselves. If the supermarket marketing campaigns were to be believed, the day of the local shop was gone.
Now, mums no longer stopped off to grab something for tea whilst walking their kids home from school. Instead, they picked their kids up from school in their car and then drove a mile away to the nearest supermarket to do their "weekly big-shop", where they'd invariably buy much more than they actually needed.
Of course, thanks to handy "sell by" dates plastered on everything, they would still be forced to return to the supermarket several more times in the same week to buy bread, milk, and anything else that apparently wouldn't last a whole week before turning to poison. And, while they were there buying their bread and milk, they'd buy more impulse items that they didn't really need.
These huge supermarket shopping sessions made it difficult for families to calculate what they actually needed, so they'd often over-buy, rather than have to make a return visit later in the week (though, as I mentioned earlier, they'd often end up doing that anyway). Eventually, they'd end up with hundreds of pounds worth of food stuffed away in cupboards and freezers, leading to the contents of freezers actually being covered under home insurance, yet still they'd make their weekly visit to the supermarket to buy more.
Despite making huge profits off these out of control food stockpilers, the supermarket chains spotted an opportunity. They realised that people didn't really like having to drive a mile then queue for 15 minutes in a supermarket just because they'd run out of milk or sugar for their cup of tea.
What they needed, was somewhere more local to shop, like... a local shop! So, these "express" stores started cropping up in almost every location going, like petrol stations, and even in locations vacated by the independent local shops that the supermarkets had previously put out of business.
"So," you may ask, "what's the problem? We have local shops again, don't we?"
Well, they are "local" shops, but they're not "local shops". They're just an annex of a supermarket, offering little choice whilst trying to cover as many bases as possible. They might only offer two different types of bread, but they offer four types of lager (in bargain cases) and twelve types of cigarettes. You can't go in there and ask them to order your favourite loaf of bread and reserve it behind the counter for you until you pop in on Saturday morning. You can't get them to deliver your newspaper every morning either.
Local shops used to provide everything that a family needed to live on. After all, there was no other alternative. Not all families had cars, so they needed to be able to get all their groceries within walking distance of their home. These local mini-marts don't provide that. They're just there so that rather than queuing for 15 minutes in a supermarket to buy a pint of milk, you queue in an "express store" for 15 minutes to buy a pint of milk because the person in front of you wants the cashier to check their last 6 weeks of lottery tickets for them whilst buying their packet of fags. When it comes to buying the main stock of weekly groceries, people are still forced to make a long trip to a supermarket.
Unfortunately, we, the consumers, are caught by the supermarket monopoly. It's no secret that Tesco buy up almost every vacant property going that might be suitable for a store, just to stop a competitor getting in there. If they don't have a store in the area then a Tesco or Tesco Express might pop up there, but if they already have the area covered, then the shop will just stand empty, forcing us to go to them.
I really can't see any way back for independent local shops. They can't compete with supermarkets on prices, and they'll always be outbid by them on property. So, it looks like we're stuck.
People keep getting told to cut down on how much they use their cars, but that's hard to do when a car is compulsory for shopping nowadays. Mind you, it probably doesn't help that people have gained a "trough feeding" mentality from supermarkets and are buying far more than they need.
I grew up in a family of four and my mum didn't drive a car, she carried all our groceries home by hand. I don't seem to recall her pushing a trolley up the road overflowing with enough groceries to fill a small van.
Even if you get your grocery delivered by one of these major supermarkets, you're still forced to spend a minimum amount (currently £50 for Tesco). Sure, you could order enough groceries to last you several weeks, but then you'll still need to travel somewhere to get milk and bread, which only last a few days before becoming inedible.
By the way, if you think home grocery deliveries are some ground-breaking innovation by large supermarket chains embracing the internet age, you're greatly mistaken. Those old-fashioned local shops that I spoke of used to deliver groceries to their customers decades ago.
