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Will we see a day when the town centres are dead, and we all shop in out of town retail parks, with only 10 or so retailers like Tesco, Ikea, Currys, Homebase, Argos etc?
... But I'd rather buy from a local compared to a corporation.
Take a look in the UK. You've got each city surrounded by retail parks with Argos, Toys R Us, Halfords, Tesco, TK Maxx, Next, M&S.
The town centres are full of JD Wetherspoon pubs and mobile phone accessories shops.
I think traders in Lisburn are fighting tooth and nail to have John Lewis banned from opening near to there.
I'm not sure what to think about it to be honest. Sometimes the costs of goods in local traders can be shocking compared to the large multiples. But I'd rather buy from a local compared to a corporation.
I live close to the border with Derry, and you have just summed up that city perfectly.
we do our shopping in a supermarket but get our meat from a local butcher. As well as the usual steaks and chops, they also do nice stir-frys, italian meatballs, different styles of stuffed chicken breasts etc.
My guess is that this butcher had to diversify a bit to compete with the big boys and seems to be doing quite well.
There probably still is a place for smaller traders if they can give consumers something different than the big supermarkets at a good price.
Surely you have a limit though? The fairly common flip side of this argument is the classic Mr Murphy & Co who has operated with a virtual monopoly for generations and basically, has been overcharging for many of his items for years. There are plenty of these people around. As far as I'm concerned they deserve to lose business.
I have no qualms whatsoever in buying form a multinational as opposed to a local trader - I'll buy from whoever gives me the best service. By best service I mean literal customer service, flexibility and choice as well as just price.
Give me a modern, bright, friendly, well stocked, low cost corporation over a dusty, grumpy, overpriced, out of date old bean counter any day.
One thing I won't do is buy local - or Irish for that matter - just for the sake of it.
Hah?, summed it up perfectly and n'er a mention of Eamon McCann (the official voice of Derry), John Hume, murals, walls, Bloody Sunday, Derry City FC, the Guildhall, the Derry/Londonderry/"Foyle" issue
Only messing, just giving you the perspective of what is synonomous with Derry from the other end of the country.
As a proud Derryman, I do of course know how great my home city is!! And just wait til the UK City of Culture drive gets into full swing - it will be worth a visit if you have never been before.
But we were talking about shopping, and thats why I mentioned that we are exactly the same as every other medium/big city when it came to retail parks.
Also looking forward to heading to the Brandywell tonight to watch Derry City thump Cork City
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