Peter Jackson column

Jan 18 2007 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

Tesco's tills have rung up record sales this Christmas, with like-for-like sales up by nearly 6%.

Somehow this news item leaves me feeling a little underwhelmed. It is as predictable and unnewsworthy as this summer's record A-level results will be.

Of course, Tesco achieved record sales, that's what Tesco does.

Also, the rise and rise of this supermarket leviathan does not, in itself, unduly worry me. It is in the nature of capitalism that some companies grow but, inevitably, they sooner or later also come a cropper.

Tesco is not the first retailing giant to appear unstoppable in its march to global domination and it will not be the last. But what does worry me - and should worry all of us - is the growth of supermarkets in general, and the associated decline of the high street and of independent shops.

It is significant that not only did Tesco have a good Christmas, but that rivals such as Sainsbury's and Morrisons also reported record festive sales. It has to be said that supermarkets have brought the consumer many benefits. According to official figures, retail food prices fell by 4.1% in real terms between 1999 and 2005 and, over the same period, the number of grocery product lines in super-markets rose by nearly 40%. That does, however, come at a price.

Woolworths, that stalwart of the traditional high street, has been suffering, with talk of its owners selling off its cut price CD and DVD division, and last year it was announced Dixons was quitting the high street to become an online seller.

The seriousness of the situation is revealed by the fact that in 1945 there were about 500,000 independent retailers in the UK.

Now there are about 30,000 and it is estimated that about 2,000 go out of business every year. The danger is not that the supermarkets will wait for this process to complete, open their own high street convenience stores and then put up prices - I doubt they will.

But what will happen is that high streets will increasingly fill with charity shops as much loved independents disappear and that the centres of smaller towns will wither and die. That is unless the planning rules change, and unless we all support our local shops.