Who will gain from an ASDA in Marple when a much larger number of people start to shop in Marple? Answer. Everyone except Co-op, Iceland and adjacent residents! The Co-op is Marple’s biggest liability: fine if you are a pensioner and you can shop during the day but infuriating if you try to shop after work when you find that the bread and milk shelves are empty. What do you do after a couple of infuriating visits to the Co-op if you need to shop after work? Answer, you simply never go near to Marple to shop. There is a hell of a lot of money in Marple and in them there hills above and beyond Marple and you see all this trade, every Saturday and Sunday in the great big queues of traffic at Dan Bank traffic lights heading for their weekly food shop at ASDA Stockport and Morrisons Bredbury.
What is the first thing that many people do when they arrive at ASDA Stockport? Answer, walk right out of the store to the specialist shops to spend money elsewhere on the items ASDA doesn’t stock or for quality items superior to routine ASDA returning later for their shopping trolley. So which shops stand to gain from a massive number changing their routine from shopping in Stockport or Morrisons Bredbury to shopping in Marple? Let’s start with the furthest point out. Marple Book Shop has not been able to compete in the sale of cut-price best sellers for years so it can only gain from an increase in visits from the affluent and literate (ie those not buying bestsellers), the students and the schoolchildren who currently walk to Waterstones from ASDA/TESCO Stockport. Post Office in Marple instead of Merseyway. The stationery shop instead of Rymans on Princes St. The bike shop on Stockport Rd or the walking shop on Market St instead of Go Outdoors or Alpenstock. The furniture shops, the local branches of the building societies and banks, retail clothing shop, high quality clothing shops on Market St cannot lose and can only gain. Will the gem of Marple ie Hollins hardware profit or lose? Probably both, the Windowlene which is not stocked at the Co-op (can you imagine a cleaning/hardware isle that does not have Windowlene?) might be at ASDA but a lot of items that commuters to Morrisons previously bought from the Homebase next door are, and the cans of paint and wallpaper bought at Homebase as part of the trip to Morrisons will be bought from the decorating shop on High St or Hollins store.
Getting tired of all of this walking around? So am I so I shall have a drink in one of the coffee shops/cafes/pubs in Marple before I head back to ASDA. Will existing customers change from Littlewoods butchers, the butcher on High St or the two greengrocery shops or the fish van? I think not but additional shoppers in Marple will increase their trade. The comments about more charity shops from objectors never cease but it never ceases to amaze me that they are so popular it is sometimes impossible to get in through the doors. More shopping in Marple means more donations to the charity shops and even more trade. So back to routine weekly shop at ASDA: no comment required, exactly the same as Stockport without the journey. £100+ to provide a tidy profit to ASDA and work for the people who live in Marple who are either unemployed or who currently commute to work at one of the stores in Stockport and find that they can now have a job on their back doorstep. ASDA Marple will generate many more bums on seats on my beloved 394 service, heaven knows that the 394 needs all the help it can get. Who knows, perhaps it should be a condition for planning permission that ASDA pay Stagecoach to extend the 383/384 to the site or even reintroduce a direct service to Hawk Green to bring all these people in Offerton who have had consultation leaflets through their doors to shop and provide jobs in Marple rather than Stockport. Why should Marple be the only suburb of Stockport without a proper supermarket open from eight till late?
1. Why was there no big campaign for a supermarket prior to the college announcing it's plans?
2. Why should the adjacent residents have their neighbourhood and quality of life altered to make it more convenient people to get their weekly shopping.
3. What guarantee is there that town centre will not suffer from the ADSA development, there are empty shops at present why would a supermarket 50% bigger than the Co-op not have a negative effect on the Town centre.
4. If as you say all these people will come to ASDA in Marple to do their shopping how will that improve the traffic situation.
The proposed new ASDA is not in the Town centre, the majority of people who come from outside Marple, will just go to ASDA park in the ASDA car park, do their weekly shop and go straight home to put in the fridge/freezer.
As so you say the Co-op is the problem, a store other than the Co-op on that site would probably suit the majority of people who prefer the convenience not have to travel outside of Marple.
Over the years as there been a mass exodus of people from Marple because of this lack of a supermarket on Hibbert Lane or other alternative to the co-op.
As there been row upon row of empty house because nobody wants to move here ?
Sorry but the New Supermarket would be a convenience to certain people and not a necessity for anyone.
A new supermarket would have a negative for the quality of life for people living in both the immediate vicinity and Marple in General, would it not set a precedent for future development in the area ?
I think it would just be the 1st step in Marple becoming just another generic suburb in the Greater Manchester urbanisation.
Is it worth it to make it more convenient to buy a cheaper tin of Beans ?
