According to the Norwich Evening News today, it looks like Tesco might be prevented from building a pharmacy as an extension to an existing store because of the potential damage to existing shops.
Local pharmacist Dee Whyatt told the paper,
“We have been battling with Tesco for two and a half years and spent about £20,000 on solicitors trying to stop them from having a pharmacy. We see ourselves as running community pharmacies - we employ local people and recently spent £120,000 refitting the Eaton Pharmacy, ploughing money back into the local community.
“We offer free delivery to people's homes and I can't see Tesco ever doing that. It will be fantastic if the council does turn their application down because they seem to be able to railroad to get their own way so often.”
Tesco (and, to be fair, other supermarkets) often employ this tactic - starting off with a smaller store and then expanding it later - they start selling food, but then introduce electrical goods, financial services, dry cleaning, travel agencies, pharmacies, and so on.
Small businesses in St Albans need to be beware. Most oppose Tesco, but some claim that there might be some benefits from a giant new supermarket - perhaps they need to check that Tesco isn't planning to expand and directly compete with them in the near future!
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