A shop that does not open when I wish to shop might as well not be there…

[Marplemum]

I totally agree with this - why can't shops be open when we want to shop?  Many people who work do not have the option of shopping locally during the week anyway - how great would it be to be able to call at a major supermarket that is 5 minutes from home to pick up provisions during the week that doesn't close at 5 or 5.30.  I live and work locally and my only choice on my way home is the Co-op which I try very hard to avoid as much as possible.

On the subject of the Co-op, it doesn't come out very well in all this does it?  It has improved slightly over the past few years but it is nowhere near as good as it should be for the area it serves and it has had long enough to sort itself out.  I have lived in the area for over 28 years and the Co-op has always been a very last resort.  The prices are not competitive with other supermarkets and people like my elderly mother in law have little choice but to shop there.

I have read lots of the opinions of the 'yes' and the 'no' campaigners.  However, on balance I think it would be a good idea to have a new supermarket in Marple.  To the 'no' campaigners.....Is the issue one of a new supermarket in Marple or is it a new supermarket on Hibbert Lane? Some of the opinions from the 'no's' seem to suggest that it would be ok to have a supermarket in Marple but not on Hibbert Lane.

On another point - I am sure that CMSFC would not be selling the site if they didn't need the money and surely the education of our 16+ children is a pretty important factor in all this..............?

[admin]

Interesting comments Ringi.

What time is it that you want to shop and where do you work?

[ringi]

Likewise a shop with poor stock control.

We both work fulltime, and often wish to spend Saturday doing something other than shopping; therefore we expect to be able to do our shopping when we choose after work etc.

We cannot depend on the Co-Op having anything in stock; the stock control is so poor.   It is much worse in the evenings then at the start of the day as well.  That’s assuming the Co-Op even stocks what we expect to buy.

The staff in the Co-Op are also very unhelpfully, when I asked them for change for the parking meter they just refused to help, giving some excuse about not being able to open the tills.  (The fact that the Co-Op cares so little about me as a customer that they wish to waste my time with a parking meter etc. is another issue…)

So we are expected to use the local shops, the local shops don’t open when we wish to shop so are not an option…  Likewise it takes too long to visits lots of different shops instead of one.

So I don’t see that there is much of value to saving the local shops…

When I asked the “No” person that was at Rose Hill Station about this, he just said I should drive out of Maple to a supermarket elsewhere.    So the “No” people don’t wish to reduce car usage!  Likewise they don’t wish me to shop in Maple.

It is clear that not selling the site is not an option for the collage, as the government as no money left to give out!

If houses were built on the site, then a lot more people will be driving to work down Dan Bank and filling up the last remaining parking spaces at the station as well the already overcrowded trains.  So houses leads to more traffic at PEAK times. 

A good large well managed supermarket may well reduce the total miles driven in Maple, as less people will feel the need to drive out of Marple to shop.

If were able to stop driving down Dan Bank (to reach the modem would) and instead drove into Maple to do our food shopping, you never know we may sometimes also use the other shops in Maple…  But as the shops in Marple are all at present making it clear they don't value us as customers (by trying to stop the full size supermarket that will make our lives better), I don’t feel like shopping at any of them.