Wow, it seems I have started my own thread
Nevertheless this is a hugely important topic and one that I think MIA are grossly underestimating as can be seen by some of the comments on this thread and the one it was split away from.
A word of advice then to all the No campaigners, it is at your peril that you downplay this issue and the strength of the anti co-op feeling that is out there. If you want to be inclusive then you need to listen carefully to this and don't dismiss it.
Supermarket shopping is a hugely emotive subject for people with young families. It is kind of a specialist subject of ours. Go to a gathering of parents with young kids and it is often all they talk about. You sometimes think "how did we get to be this boring?" but there you go! This is not just people living on the breadline either, it is a passionate topic of conversation for all of us, rich or poor.
We live in a real world, one where price comparison websites are not reality. Where shopping in the co-op can be a hugely frustrating experience due to the unavailability of the best value goods. Where special offers are often sold out. Where frankly you reach the till and it's £10 - £20 more than you were expecting, even for a smallish shop. After all, how many 'big shops' do you see happening in the co-op (ones with at least one full, large shopping trolley)? Honest answers please.
So when you go onto the Yes to a Supermarket in Marple facebook page and see the level of anger and vitriol directed at the co-op and of the 'snobs' in the MIA dictating how we should be doing our shopping, then don't dismiss us as a bunch of contrarians. Think about how it sadly got to this. We have not made all this up about the co-op - why would we? Think about your own approach to the whole issue and how you could do more to listen to these important voices. I'm not saying that people with young families all want a new supermarket, but the vast majority of the ones I have talked to certainly do.
Yet these are also the people who have the least headspace to even think about this debate. But they are also the ones who are rearing the future generation of Marple residents. So finally ask yourself this, is it fair that they have less of a voice than those with more of that most precious of commodities - time?
This real world of yours only seems to exist in your mind.
Your family of 5, Ok it's your lifestyle choice to have a big family so, typical days food:
breakfast:
5 servings bran flakes = £0.32 p
Grapefruit, Kiwi, nectarines & orange fruit salad (made it myself yesterday) 5 servings £0.80
5 x Tea = £0.10 p
Milk used £0.10p
5 x toast & spread - £0.30p
Washing powder used £0.08
Snack - 5 x oranges / bananas = £1.00
Lunch = Sandwiches & filling x 5 = £1.00
Dinner i.e. Beef mince £1.60, onion £0.10, Tomatoes £0.30, herbs £0.10, Pasta £0.40
Daily cost to feed & wash a family £6.20
£43 per week
even saving 20% as you claim, £8.60 is £447.20 a year.
I wouldn't mind betting that whilst people walk to Marple centre, they'd drive to Hibbert Lane superstore giving an additional £2 of petrol / wear & tear. So the saving is now down to £6.60 a week on an unrealistic 20% saving on the co-op v other supermarket.
What if the new supermarket isn't Asda? If it's Tesco, there is possibly no saving at all.