Shopping guru slams food chains
TV shopping guru Mary Portas has blamed supermarkets for “killing” Britain’s smaller shops.
The star of BBC’ s Mary Queen Of Shops, raised the alarm over what she describes as the “seemingly unstoppable march” of the superstores.
Writing in the Radio Times, Portas said she believed communities were suffering for the sake of convenience. She said she was brought up “knowing every shopkeeper in our town” and described them as “the cornerstones of family life”.
Portas said: “The rise of the supermarket giants – and our love affair with them – is killing Britain’s small shops. We’re sacrificing not just our greengrocers, our butchers and our bakers, but also our communities for convenience.
“In 1954, St Albans was the unlikely starting point for this revolution when it was chosen as the pilot location for Tesco’s first ever convenience store … greengrocers, butchers and corner shops have gradually disappeared.” She added that the move into other product ranges had also been a step too far.