Tesco / ASDA !!!

[hollins]

Let's have a reasoned debate. This is what the new website states:

Asda Marple will be a new neighbourhood supermarket, which is proportionate to the town and will bring more competition so that local residents can benefit from lower prices.

It will have:
- A sales area of 25,000 sq ft (nowhere near the size of the larger Asda superstores, which can be upwards of 75,000 sq ft)
- Free car parking
- Disabled parking, electric car charging points
- cycle and motor cycle parking
- A small petrol station offering low-price fuel
- Popular George clothing for children and adults
- Two entrances – one from the main car park and one facing Hibbert Lane – approximately 200m from Marple’s primary shopping area

The new store store will be smaller than the existing college buildings on the Hibbert Lane site.

The new Asda will not have a cafe, nor  a meat, fish or deli counter, as there is already good provision in the Town Centre.


Opening hours and Deliveries
- Store: 8am - 9pm, Monday to Saturday, 10am - 4pm on Sundays
- Petrol station: 7am - 10pm
- Deliveries will take place between the hours of 7am and 10pm only

Asda Marple will provide greater choice and Asda’s low prices for Marple residents, helping to retain shoppers in Marple.

The existing car park at the Hibbert Lane site will be transformed into an area of community open space.  We invited you to make suggestions for how this space should be used, and feedback from the first stage of consultation identified that the most popular option was for it to be kept as informal grassed space.  The open space will be permanently protected by a covenant, so that it can only ever be used as open space by the local community.

[Osdog]

Just a second ago, I got an email headed thus :-

"Enjoy the Marple Festival 21- 23 September 2012 - make sure it won’t be the last one to be held here, because the Food & Drink market  and all the independent shops are under threat."

I think this is a bit OTT - there's no reason that a food and drink festival can't be held because of an Asda surely ?  Maybe not in exactly the same format, but I'm sure it could continue.

Nor do I agree with the comment that ALL the independent shops are under threat - some certainly, but not all.. if push came to shove, and the Asda is built, then people could still enjoy the festival, and then shop there.. or in the local shops that will undoubtedly remain... 

I'm not particularly in favour of a supermarket, but I feel this was a heavy handed comment to introduce the mail with..... 

Change can be good, and can be seen as an opportunity ....

[hollins]

THEir NEW WEB SITE DOESNT WORK VERY WELL!

The website seems to be based heavily on Flash ... so it won't work on an iPad. It works on a PC (but it could do with Mark's web-authoring skills).

[Dave]

Works OK for me too.  As for this:

the way the video is worded saying that Asda is coming to Marple  would suggest its a done deal . 

...well, they would say that wouldn't they.   

[Rachael]

Works fine on my computer.  ..... maybe I'm a cynic,  but the way the video is worded saying that Asda is coming to Marple  would suggest its a done deal . 

[pirate Princess]

THEir NEW WEB SITE DOESNT WORK VERY WELL!

[jethroh65]

Just got at a leaflet for the 2nd Public Exhibition.

Main changes are:-
There will be no Cafe, Fish, Meat or Deli counters at the proposed Asda.
Traffic lights will be installed where the present roundabout is at the Hibbert Lane/Church Lane Junction.
Open space on Hibbert Lane will remain open under a covenant.

There is a new website www.marplecollegeandasda.co.uk.

Ding Ding Round 2!!!!

[Victor M]

Because of it's location and the items likely to be marketed from the Chadwick St. supermarket. e.g. No cafe, no chemist. It's not rocket science, just plain old common sense.

[amazon]

although if we get a supermarket in Hibbert Lane that could well change, with more footfall around the top end of Market Street, Church Lane and Derby Way.

A supermarket on Chadwick St would increase the footfall but not one on Hibbert Lane.

Why not .

[Dave]

A supermarket on Chadwick St would increase the footfall but not one on Hibbert Lane.

You seem very sure, Victor, but I think you need to wait and see.  At the moment, I and many others park in the Co-op, do some of our shopping there, and then walk to the other shops to do the rest of it.

In future, we are likely to park at Asda and do the same thing.  We will therefore be walking along Hibbert Lane, crossing Church Lane and then along Market Street or Derby Street and Derby Way.   

[JMC]

Why did Toast customers move to Costa? Was it price, quality, ambience, service, location or what?

I can't speak for everyone but personally find Costa very friendly and have been quite a few times. It also seems pretty trendy with teenagers and young people-all ages in fact. I went in the Toast once and to be fair maybe it was just a bad day but I didn't feel welcomed whatsoever so didn't go again. I know others who love it though (along with another who had a simelar experience to me). Costa is also pretty child friendly and easy with pushchairs etc. Location too is excellent for meeting people there-it is so central. However I am saddened to see any business close so it is a shame for Toast. Maybe it has also been affected by the economic climate although that then if Costa is successful then maybe not. Maybe it is because people want Brands? If they go to Costas wherever they are and know all the prices/coffees etc.

[Victor M]

although if we get a supermarket in Hibbert Lane that could well change, with more footfall around the top end of Market Street, Church Lane and Derby Way.

A supermarket on Chadwick St would increase the footfall but not one on Hibbert Lane.

[Dave]

Costa serve coffee in nice big crockery cups too - the plastic ones are just for takeaways.

I suspect its central location has been a key factor for Costa - near the buses and some well-used shops (Wilson's, Gregg's, and the Co-op of course). Derby Way is hardly the best location in Marple, although if we get a supermarket in Hibbert Lane that could well change, with more footfall around the top end of Market Street, Church Lane and Derby Way.

[alstan]

As I have never been a customer of Toast or Costa in Marple I am also puzzled by the "Latest News" post. Why did Toast customers move to Costa? Was it price, quality, ambience, service, location or what? My recollection of Costa elsewhere is that they serve coffee in plastic cups which might be OK if you have to rush for a train but, otherwise, I find very unappealing. . They must have something strongly in their favour, can anyone tell me what it is?

With regard to Toxteth's comment regarding local councillors, at the recent SMBC Marple Area Committee meeting, three councillor's repledged they troth to MIA's campaign, at least one indicating that he could envisage no circumstance in which his views might change. This implies that he would take no account of any benefits to his constituents which might materialise in the next few weeks. Not really what we elect councillors for is it.

[amazon]

Interesting post on the 'Latest News' thread, linking the arrival of Costa Coffee with the recent sad closure of Toast.  The proprietor of Toast suggests that his cafe's 'demise at the hands of Costa is a perfect, albeit small scale example of what happens when the national brands move in to a town..... Beware Marple, ASDA will come and the town will change drastically.'

But this analogy doesn't work.  For a start, the national brands are already here - the Co-op, Iceland, Boots, Superdrug.   And anyway, change is not necessarily a bad thing.  Costa Coffee will undoubtedly have provided stiff competition for other local coffee shops, and I'm sorry to lose Toast.  But by the same token, Asda is a supermarket, and the main threat it will pose is to the other supermarkets.  Would we really shed many tears over those?  

Agree with you on this dave (for once) did toast move from a smaller cafe to we're they are now .if it was successful there why move .Marple has got to change to many charity shops . Takeaways cafes now if it doesn't what will it be like in say six years time .