The blue fence has come down and the shiny new store is on display. It opens for business on Friday morning at eight. Its hours thereafter will be 7.00 am until 11.00 pm seven days a week. There's a Link cash machine on an outside wall, though it's not been switched on yet.
And so the stage is set for a Tesco test case on our doorsteps. Will it destroy small local traders, leaving boarded-up shopfronts all down Lower Clapton Road? Is its arrival inevitably just the next step in the homogenisation of the neighbourhood by large, branded chains, be they supermarkets or betting shops?
Or will the Tesco presence drive up the standards of other local shops and produce more variety as its smaller rivals diversify to survive? At Palm 2, they're now offering free, large bars of Green and Blacks chocolate to customers who spend more than £30. I'm never out of the place these days, though I'll be taking the odd prowl around the Tesco Express too, if only to see what they're offering and at what price. Readers' views and retail experiences are, as ever, very welcome.
Palm 2 tell me that because it's a Metro the prices will be much higher than a superstore..
Posted by: James Cherkoff | February 10, 2011 at 09:04 AM
The freeholders of the building have told me me that they currently cannot legally open tomorrow. This may change later on today, but is the current situation.
Posted by: ewebber | February 10, 2011 at 11:23 AM
All eyes are on Palm2 as they are going to be the ones most obviously effected. They've already demonstrated a gradual shift towards the deli/cafe model which I think is a wise move, but they seem reluctant to commit themselves. Personally, I think they should visit Crouch End's Spiazzo and copy it;
www.spiazzo.co.uk
Posted by: alex | February 10, 2011 at 03:35 PM
I'm intending not to use the Tesco and keep shopping in Palm 2. I think Abdullah and his staff do an amazing job and have been very influential in adding to what is increasingly becoming a village feel in the community. I'm curious though about whether to use the cash machine. I like the idea of taking out free cash to spend in Palm 2 would this benefit Tesco in any way?
Posted by: beekeeper21 | February 13, 2011 at 02:48 PM
beekeeper21
You say that you're "intending not to use" Tesco. Do I detect a lack of resolve in your little boycott? Personally, I think they'd make far more money if they changed to a large cafe deli rather than trying to compete with Tesco.
Posted by: alex | February 14, 2011 at 07:39 AM
Apparantly the cashpoint in Palm 2 will be free soon so you won't even need to use Tesco hole-in-wall.
Posted by: Clare | February 14, 2011 at 11:44 AM
@beekeeper I'd be extremely disappointed if they did that, then where would we shop to get decent choice? - I won't use Tesco
It seems there has been a lot of interest in the new Tesco, but also that a lot of people have been in, not found what they wanted and gone into Palm2.
More on the issue of whether Tesco have opened without the go ahead from the freeholders is here: http://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2011/02/11/housing-association-seeks-legal-advice-as-clapton-tesco-opens/ I was informed yesterday that this is still the case.
Posted by: ewebber | February 15, 2011 at 05:04 AM
tesco is an abomination.
this is not about 'friendly competition', this is not about trying to recreate the bourgeois cafe havens of crouch end so you can get your organic/fair trade/processed by blessed monkeys chocolate at a jolly reasonable price.
this is about shops that are centres of communities, shops that give genuine turkish/indian/west indian products for the cultures of the communities they serve, at a price the community can afford.
I for one begrudge the fact that there is no cash point in clapton, but so what?
I'd rather walk to mare st or pay a fee than have my local area filled with sterile corporations. LONG LIVE THE GREEN SHOP ON THE CORNER.
Posted by: francesca | February 15, 2011 at 01:48 PM
@Alex
Yes you probably do detect a lack of resolve. 'Virtue not tested' and all that. Although the other day when Palm 2 had no chilly oil I resisted the temptation to nip into Tesco and went home without any instead. I bet that had the Tesco CEO shaking in his boots! Are you being disparaging about the size of my boycott? I'm not sure how to quantify it (or increase it). I like to think its and express size boycott. Bigger than a metro boycott but not as big as a super boycott. Back to the point, is it OK (given my express size boycott) to use the cash machine?
Posted by: beekeeper21 | February 16, 2011 at 11:41 AM
Businesses that have a cash machine in their frontage do receive a fee from the banks for each time they are used.
Posted by: Murray | February 19, 2011 at 12:47 PM
Thanks Murray
That answers it.
Posted by: beekeeper21 | February 21, 2011 at 11:54 AM
damn! my intention was to get money out at tesco's and spend it at the local shops nearby - if they get a fee that's not going to work!
Posted by: catherine | February 22, 2011 at 06:03 PM