Tesco has its eye on third store in Barnstaple

“The reason Supermarkets thrive is because people choose them over other stores. People want Supermarkets so why should they not get them?. If other shops close down then obviously they aren't wanted so why should they exist?. These independent shops are rip offs as they charge high prices and then try their best to stop the supermarkets coming so they can continue to rip people off as they are forced to go to them. Why should anyone be forced to shop in a certain place?. These days shopping is about convenience and consumers want everything in one place like a Supermarket and the Internet offer. They don't want outdated independent shops of little choice and high prices, people who do want this are against change and need to get with the times!”

“Db 361
I think bobbob43 is probably correct and you work in the public sector,as you certainly don't understand business.the number of empty shops in town are directly a result of too high rent and rates added to by the out of town stores.

You talk of butchers row surviving if tescos open,well there's only one butchers in the row nowadays but they could do damage to the bakers,delicatessen,florist and fishmonger just as much.

Personally I think b&m who are proposing to move into the old focus store will do a lot more damage to the town centre,if the council agree to numerous change of uses b&m propose.

Still as they say the public get what they want and if rent and rates do not reduce I dread to think what the high st will look like in ten years time if things continue as they are at present.”

“Really!!??? It's because us (the consumer) support massive companies like Tesco rather than our local businesses that they think they can have yet another store!! Come on people..we don't need another Tesco or any other MASSIVE store like this in the town. It isn't any good Tesco passing it off as an Express store it's still Tesco.. wake up everyone and smell the bull****”

“DB361 , your right i do care , and you should be ashamed to pick up on my grammar errors i actually have a learning disability , i can only assume you are complete fool, probably a public sector worker . your grammar may be correct but the content is rubbish, i'd love to meet you face to face than you can give me an english lesson let me know ....coward”

“I very rarely go in town as I'm a net geek and shop mostly online but when I do I see more & more empty units. So I think any business taking an interest in opening up in our town is a good thing. At the end of the day if you don't like the shop don't shop there, simple as that. The current shops including Butchers Row will be fine if their customers stay loyal. What's the saying, use it or lose it?”

“More bribes to the council.”

“haha 'bobbob43' - once I understood the language that you write in (it's certaintly not English!), I had to laugh. Yes, Somerfield is now Co-op (which as a company actually has around 2,000 MORE stores than Tesco in the UK - yet nobody seems to complain about them!), but I never said that the WON'T sell meat & fruit and veg - I said they won't sell MUCH - in other words they'll have a small, limited range of fresh food, but they will mostly sell snacks, drinks, newspapers and magazines - hence why I called it a 'convenience store' and NOT a supermarket! Oh, I also feel the need to point out that Tesco and M&S are aiming at completely different markets and customers and therefore the comparison is completely irrelevant - you may aswell have said that TopShop will loose 15% of trade!

Butchers Row will not die a death. And don't forget that landlords are running their own business - they too need to make a living somehow! Remember that if you were a landlord, having a tenant paying lower rent is better than having no tenant (and therefore no income) at all. You want to accuse us of not understanding economics again? Thought not.

Oops, I forgot - of course, you don't care! In fact, you can't care so much that you decided to take time to post it on the internet so that we all know that you don't care! Well done....:-S”

“My goodness for information somerfield does not exist and DB361 you really thing they wont sell meat and fruit and veg how deluded you are, let it open im past caring, im joing the im alright jack party, I predict butchers row will die a slow death co op and spar will shut as will one of the food shops in bear street will also close, so much for stimulating the high street, we need fat cat landlords to lower rent. , councils to lower rates and attract local business, but then who cares i think no one! also m&s will lose 10-15 percent of their foodhall business and cut the staff , DOES NO. ONE GET ECONOMICS ? ooops i forgot i dont care”

“Agree with PiltonLady - the store must be a good thing if it attracts more shoppers to that end of the High Street. The main thing to note is that it will be an 'Express' convenience store rather than a 'Metro' which are more like town centre supermarkets, so they won't be selling much in the way of fruit & veg or fresh meat that may take trade away from the local stalls on Butchers Row and in the Pannier Market.”

“My first thought was, oh no, not another one. But, actually, I'm not sure a Tesco's Express in the High Street would be such a bad idea. It would be competing with Somerfield and Iceland etc, rather than the local shops.”