Hopping Mad!

The space-hoppers were out in force today, their pretty pink colour hides the red rage brewing up. I work in a small town of under 15,000 residents and we were promised the revitalisation of our town with a new supermarket, some retail outlets and town-centre accomodation.

A huge hole was dug in what was once our car park and sports fields and then the Banks crashed. Our venture was being funded with Australian money and all work stopped. Now, a year later, Sainsbury's want to save the day by offerring to build a 78.000 square foot multi-product supermarket. This is far larger than the food store we agreed to, and with the car park on the far side from the town, it becomes a one-stop shop.

Today's message on the flyers and T-shirts was "Hop it, Sainsburys". Not that we have any objection to Sainsburys in general, their products are very good, However, whilst there is nothing wrong with competition, the special services our friendly independant shops offer will disappear as the small shops find they cannot survive with the fascination of the new.

I don't usually moan on blip but these are worrying times and it's happening everywhere.