Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sainsbury's: " We cannot confirm we're pulling out of Nairn."

A front page splash in the Nairnshire today with with the worrying news that Sainsbury's are thinking again, not only about Nairn but investment in Scotland in general. More in today's copy of the Nairnshire Telegraph. "An unusually worded statement," says the Nairnshire. Indeed it is, could we be facing the nightmare scenario of at least another decade of Co-op rule in Nairn?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think this is likely given the time, effort and cash already expended on the Nairn store. As I understand it the latest delays are due to ongoing issues with the road construction consents, and contractors are expecting to finalise their bids for the construction works in February.

Spurtle said...

Yet another reminder of Supermarket priorities.

Spurtle would like there to be a new supermarket in Nairn, and Sainbury's is as good as any..........but this latest dummy spitting episode should act as a reminder to those that allied themselves with the supermarket giant that they have little respect for your support, once a very minor threat to their enormous profits appears above the parapets.

They are a threat to High streets everywhere, and the evidence of that is easily seen in most towns, so they should be responsible and accept the negative impact they have and be prepared to absorb some minor financial pain to help support traditional shopping areas.

It does seem like they would be happy to cut their noses off, to spite their face though. They have a keen and ready customer base in Nairn , with cash to spend, and they are prattling on about a wee increase in their contribution to the big pot.

Do they want our money, or not?

They are hardly likely to increase sales ( and therefore profits) by not opening new stores. Not exactly business at the cutting edge is it?

Nairnac said...

Not a good start to 2011.
I've been sceptical about this project ever since the first delays were announced. I sincerely hope I am proved wrong though.
That's Balmakeith on the back-burner, no movement for the foreseeable future at Sandown, no change to the Town centre barring a few new shelves in the Coop, and a well intentioned wish list of development sketches.
In addition, I can't see much coming of the 'Nairn South' development any time soon other than some formal acknowledgement of the current landowners chance to line their pockets at some unknown point down the line.
Throw in this years swingeing Tory cuts for good measure with the bin men being binned, the grass cutters cut, and RAF Kinloss grounded, and there doesn't seem to be a very optimistic outlook for Nairn for the year ahead.
Anybody got any good news to post ?

Spurtle said...

Yeh, I found a chocolate snowman at the back of the fridge last night

happy days.

Graisg said...

As was mentioned in a previous thread there is the school of thought that believes that the opposition parties will knock the SNP's out of town supermarket tax on the head when it comes to the vote. Could be that the Greens go for it though?
Anyway that would mean Sainsbury's would go ahead after a succesful pre election poker game? Who knows, still looking bleak to this observer.

Anonymous said...

Agree with Spurtle - except that I haven't found any extra chocolate in the fridge.

One question I would have is about this retailer's reputation; aren't they worried about it and how their comments will be viewed and what effect it could have on their business?

Those in favour of the Sainsbury supermarket here in Nairn stuck their necks out in order to support this store. To appear to be disregarding the good wishes of customers isn't exactly positive PR and shows that their customer base must be strong enough to withstand the possiblity of losing customers through this behaviour; unless of course their research shows them that no matter how 'badly' they seem to treat customers / potential customers we'll just shop there and allow them to profit from our custom anyway.

Anonymous said...

Fix it Fergus, the pothole man, will surely manage to sort out the so called "supermarket tax" to ensure our beloved Sainsbury delivers us from the clutches of the wicked Co-op.

Anonymous said...

We're all just pawn's in their games and prisoner's to the lack of available choice.

Lord Ealan Donan MacRath said...

They own the land? lets just see how long the Shareholders want to keep the land for?

Graisg said...

Isn't owning land just another version of having money in the bank?

Jim said...

All retailers seeking to create a national presence have land banks.

They buy strategic sites quietly, years in advance of seeking development. The land banks are often held by nominee companies, because if e.g. Asda or Tesco buy a site in their own name, the asking price automatically doubles.

As Graisg says, in inflationary times, a land bank is a good investment - and you don't pay tax on it unless you decide to sell it, when CGT kicks in.

Wonder if anyone has secret sites or options around Nairn?

Lord Litchfield said...

Every body deserves a chance to prove themselves lets give Sainburys a chance to prove to the people off Nairn that they are 100% true in developing the land at Balmakeith most off the people from Nairn want it and will give there support and give there help to Sainsburys Nairn people want a supermarket that they can afford to buy items at realistic prices that they can afford heres hoping