Nearly 75% of town centre premises may not be affected by Sainsbury's claims Spelding.

Spelding writes for the Gurn again:

On the eve of the final days of the Public inquiry into the Sainsbury’s planning application I thought this might be a pertinent time to re-visit a posting I made on 1st June 2008.

Again this is not a scientific survey or analysis but just a snapshot of an ongoing situation. This has been reviewed and tweaked since the previous (totally non-scientific) survey in June 2008. Some additional categories have been created and some premises transferred into others, ie Physio and Health Shop into Hairdressers etc.

There are now approx 131 retail and business premises within the area from the British Legion in Cawdor Road to Jacko’s in Harbour Street. Premises in Moray Place, Falconers Lane and Gordon Street, which had been omitted from previous survey, have been added as has the British Legion, Seaforth Club and Jackos.


Out of these there are:
Banks/Finance/Insurance/EstateAgents/Solicitors/Offices/Local Govt 21
Bars/Off Licences 10
Bookies 2
Bridal 2
Butchers 2
Charity Shops 3
Chemists/Pharmacies 2
Clothes Shops 4
Electrical 2
Empty 9
Flower Shops 2
Food shops (not supermarkets) 2
Fruit Shops 1
Gift Shops 9
Hairdressers/Barbers/Beauty/Health shops/Physio 13
Multinationals 4
Opticians 2
Paper Shops 2
Pet Shops/Services 4
Other: Various ie, Tattoist, Taxi's,
Furniture & Carpet, Funeral Directors etc 13
Restaurants/Cafes/Takeaways 20
Supermarkets 2


So nearly 75% of the High St area consists of;
Banks/Finance/Insurance/EstateAgents/Solicitors/Offices/Local Govt
Restaurants/Cafes/Takeaways
Hairdressers/Barbers/Beauty/Health shops/Physio
Other: Various ie, Tattoist, Taxi's, Furniture & Carpet, Funeral Directors etc
Bars/Off Licence
Empty premises
Bookies
Bridal
Chemists/Pharmacies
Opticians
some Pet shop/Services

There are 96 premises, nearly 75%, unlikely to be affected directly by a Sainsbury’s ; Banks/Finance/Insurance/Estate Agents/Solicitors/Office/Local Govt, Bars/Off Licences, Bookies, Bridal, Chemists/Pharmacies, Hairdresser’s/Barber’s/Beauty Shops, Opticians, Restaurants/Cafes/Takeaways, Others, some Pet shop/Services, Empty premises.

Again, depending on what Sainsbury’s may sell 26 Business could find some impact but may well not suffer too much as they are located within the town centre and are used on an everyday basis or are specialist retailers;
Clothes Shops, Charity Shops, Electrical, Gift Shops, Paper Shops, some Pet Shops/Services, Multinationals.

That leaves 9 premises which may be directly affected by Sainsbury’s; Supermarkets, Fruit shops, Flower shops, Butchers, Food shops (not supermarkets).

So whats changed in a year? Not much! All the comments I made in June 2008 are still relevant. Leakage is still happening, probably more so with the opening of Lidl in Forres and the growing popularity of the expanded Asda and Tesco’s in Elgin.

We’re another year further down the line and Nairn is still in the shopping dark ages and still no access to a decent supermarket.

Let’s hope that the Reporter makes a decision which will bring us into the light! A supermarket worthy of a town of this size. Aren’t we worth it?