Saturday 12 January 2013

Let's celebrate

We have a market on a Thursday where you can buy all the fruit for a week for only one pound: ten mandarins, seven bananas and five reasonably sized cox apples. Amazing.

Those that say we need a supermarket are surely ignoring the benefits of the flexible pricing you get with a local small business.

Not only are there good bargains but we help build local businesses that in the long term not only keep local people in work  but provide the cash to enable canny businessmen/women to provide even more services and hence jobs - something that won't happen when the likes of Sainsburys march in.

Let's use some imaginative thinking and think local rather than follow the mindless belief, produced by hjigh power brainwashing that supermarkets are good for us.

They're not - they will never have the above low prices on a regular bases but only in order to capture a floating market with their superficial 'deals'. Our market stall holders deliberately buy stock at prices that the supermarkets can't copy because they are so efficient at getting the goods into the hands of potential buyers.

Come on you guys 'Wise up' - you're being duped by well honed Supermarket Talk.

10 comments:

Art. Moore said...

personally I find the fruit on Ulverston market distinctly ropey! Along with most of the veg. Same applies to Brocklebanks. I buy veg in Tesco and Co-op which may be dearer but is of far better quality.

I cannot understand the NIMBYs such as yourself and the deplorable KUS lot. If Sainsburys is successful and some shops in town close it will be because it offers what people want! And please lay off that patronising bullsh*t about shoppers not realisng they are being duped or otherwise taken in.Most shoppers are ladies who run households, they know what is value and what isn't, especially in the current economic climate.

In any case, none of the antis has ever been specific about which businesses might be under threat. They ramble on about butchers and bakers. We have one butcher, overpriced. We have no decent baker. If Greggs closed today I'd count that as a plus, awful place and not a locally owned shop.

Its been said elsewhere but only Irvings and maybe Brocklebanks would be under any significant threat. As things stand so called "special" Ulverston is a town full of hairdressers, financial services, bloody awful caffs, trinket shops and niche shops such as picture framing, lighting, opticians etc. I am not going to go to Sainsburys to buy shoes, put a bet on or take out Insurance!So far as I know they don't deal in ladies clothes, haircuts or statues of hares! Neither am I going to go there for 20 fags and a paper in the morning.

So, little or no threat to the vast majority of shops in town. Debatable threat to maybe 2 or 3 businesses. Maybe its arrival here will get home to some local shopkeepers that the paying public is not a charity designed to sustain them and pay them a wage. The world doesn't owe Ulverston shops a living, and neither do I.

Art. Moore said...

haha. I conclude from your silence that you have no real answer other than the usual bluster, generalisation and wild conjecture. Well, come on, lets have a debate YOU tell ME the specific businesses that you feel will be threatened by Sainsbury's. Name the threatened shops Mr D!

Geoff Dellow said...

Art. I've been busy - going to Manchester for training in Wordpress which is a superb way of building web sites which include blogs like this one which is what I shall be changing to shortly.
Quite honestly , I get fed up going over the same arguments over and over again!

Geoff Dellow said...

Yes the fruit on the market is 'dodgey'. That's why it's cheap. They buy fruit that has a short shelf life and why I buy it - it's extremely cheap. Stuff you'd never find in a supermarket - they're for the wealthy or those willing to throw their money away and keep the rich executives in the style they're used to in their tax havens in the tropics.

Shopping at our market supports local workers who provide services for the locals.

Art.Moore said...

Sorry for my assumption, didn't realise you were away for the day. However, you haven't answered the question.

Your point about local market stalls is a bit of a curate's egg. Preston, Fleetwood, Morecambe are all local in a regional sense but not truly local to Ulverston.

As for shops "under threat" I maintain that there are only one or two, they have loyal customer bases as it is and I don't really see them being obliterated by any supermarket.

Truth is neither you nor KUS can name any threatened shops. It can't be done coz there are none.

Geoff Dellow said...

Art, You come across as someone itching for a fight. I suspect your opponents are melting into the sunset.
Best wishes in your search for answers - as for me my daily Hoad walks, my clarinet and tonight my chess take priority.

Anonymous said...

Well done Geoff
You did not engage in a battle of wits as its unfair to pick on the unarmed.
ZORO

Gladys said...

My observation of the present sad state of things in Ulverston. At the rate of the closing down of Ulverston's shops there will be none left to 'save' anyway. Is there any guarantee that the few shops left (that are truly Ulverstonian in character) will remain open as the years pass by? Of course not.
As an oldie who has lived in the area for many years and seen the passing of many shops etc we once enjoyed, I see the matter as being in the hands of younger people whose opinions are far more important than those in my age group. You can't bring back what has gone, but rather make the most of the present and accept what comes along — especially if that 'something' is what the majority want. We still have plenty of places to go for a chat, a drink, a meal, or to watch the world go by. If we want to keep those 'places' we have to use them. Those who are in business are entitled to a living. I'm sure they don't keep open just to 'look pretty'!

Geoff Dellow said...

Thanks Gladys - the voice of calm wisdom.
Oldies prehaps can see things coming that the youngsters don't. Do the majority necessarily make the best choices? Is democracy necessarily the best system?
What I miss is someone who has the courage of their beliefs. I'm beginning to loose mine. Life is tough.

Geoff Dellow said...


Talking about the views of young people - what is really encouraging is the views of those I meet at the Stan Laurel - those that come out and do something difficult and work as a team: those playing pool for their pub team. They are determined to win and are doing well - They thrashed the King's Head B team winning all seven of their matches.

The first two were played without the opponents even potting a single ball - we broke and cleared and then they broke and we cleared. If you want to test what the spirit in the town really is : come down to the Stan Laurel - the place is saturated with self belief and a feeling the a good fight can be fun.

They have strong political beliefs too and have little time for the present politicians.

Congratulations to 26 year old Hannah Bell who was rung up by the Guardian to be featured in their paper today - a very impressive young woman who you will meet there.