Tesco opened on Picardy Place yesterday.
Spurtle witnessed no spontaneous outpourings of joy across Broughton. No enthusiastic crowds queued outside overnight in freezing conditions to be among the first inside.
When we went for a neb mid-afternoon, there were four customers – vastly outnumbered by staff scanning barcodes as if their lives depended upon it. Someone we took for a store detective stood rooted to the spot. He smiled dreamily into space. Perhaps he was thinking of a delicatessen.
First impressions: what once seemed a rather spacious bed shop is now a rather cramped and narrow corridor with pallid chickens at one end. Those allergic to daylight will love it.
Of course, very few people shop in Tesco Expresses for their architectural aesthetics or the pleasure of chatting to staff. Convenience is everything. The Picardy Place's outlet is very convenient for anyone on one side of Picardy Place wanting a limited selection of predictable products served by people in uniforms.
Prices in the new store are interesting. Whilst claiming to work with the community, Tesco is also in competition with elements of it. Take the sandwich trade: Tesco 'Meal Deals' (£2 sandwich / snack / soft drink) are clearly beyond anything local independents can offer purely in terms of price. However, similar deals are already common in the St James Centre.
Perhaps more significant: the cheapest sandwich we found yesterday in the Picardy Place supermarket cost £1 ('Just Cheese'), and there were eye-catching deals on, for example, Powerade drinks: one for £1.12, two for £1.70.
By contrast, on the same day at the Broughton Road Tesco – busy at lunchtimes but a little further away from Broughton Street – the cheapest sandwiches we found cost £1.35 ('Light Choices: Salmon and Cucumber') and there were no similar front-of-store deals on soft drinks.
Cynics may therefore wonder if the Picardy Place Tesco Express – after one day – is already targeting some of its neighbours.
With the help of local retailers, Spurtle is now assembling a 'Broughton Street shopping basket' for purposes of comparison. We'll monitor Tesco pricing policy over the coming weeks/months (and its effects), and report back.