Adam Bedford: Why I’m having a re-think about supermarkets

“The government should embrace supermarkets, says a leading think-tank,” the Today programme declared the other week.

Apparently, supermarkets have the potential to deliver economic and social change and bring high quality, affordable food into the hearts of deprived areas – and government needs to recognise this.

I nearly spilled my coffee. I like local food systems and think that it is important for people to connect with where their food comes from. I even once challenged my Mum to not bother with the supermarket for a month and buy locally instead.

The conventional wisdom for me, therefore, is that “positive economic and social change” and “supermarkets” don’t often sit together in the same breath.

The obvious – or anti – thing to say would be that actually supermarkets have had a detrimental effect on communities by transferring trade out of town and leaving the smaller local food shops devoid of custom and struggling to compete.

Add into this the effects that some supermarket practices have had on farming, and the further spread of yet more supermarkets could easily be regarded as undesirable.

The debate now for me is whether this negativity and cynicism is still an accurate assumption. I’m not sure it is.

Supermarkets are increasingly moving to open more “local” stores and, according to the report, having a retail brand on the high street raises aspirations and encourages local pride.

If my experience recently is anything to go by, it might well do more than that. Supermarkets in a local area could spell good things for local food sales and subsequent opportunities for farmers.

In the area near to where I live, the residents who have always lived there bemoan the fact that all of the houses are now full of students. You can’t have a nice quiet pint anymore without having to stand next to someone dressed as batman on a fancy dress booze-up, they say. They also wonder where all the good food shops went after the kebab shops turned up.

There is a medium-sized supermarket on the high street in a new shopping centre which opened recently. This added to existing big convenience store plus another supermarket “express” shop in the area. All of a sudden the area didn’t look anything like it used to do.

But get this. A new independent bakery opened about three months ago. It is a successful shop. Then at the beginning of September, a new butcher’s shop opened and is doing a roaring trade. I might not like to admit it, but supermarkets might well bring extra trade to an area and provide opportunities for local businesses and farmers. Our local area has become a destination for people to visit, not just a suburb.

I think it is because consumers have become savvy. They like local food and they are still prepared to pay for it. Farm shops are now the norm in many places, and not a quirky diversification like they used to be. Consumers want a balance in their food supply chain and that’s what we have where we live. They want supermarkets, that is obvious, but not all of the time. They want convenience, but increasingly this might not be tens of thousands of products lines in a store out of town.

Supermarkets still buy the largest proportion of the produce of UK farming, and small independent stores and farm shops are increasingly well supported.

The notion of consumer choice, long the mantra of retailers, may well now have a different ring to it. Is this positive economic and social change? I think it probably is.