KLS chair answers Sainsbury's statement on new store

Martin Crumpton, chair of Keep Llangollen Special, has issued this statement in response to the llanblogger story on Monday in which Sainsbury’s said it would be going ahead with its new superstore in Llangollen despite rumours that it was halting new store openings as part of an overhaul of its business to fight falling sales. 

“We need not be unduly dismayed by this bullish response from Sainsbury’s PR machine.

“The supermarket giant may well find itself owning a shell on the outskirts of Llangollen, but it won’t have escaped their notice they will never achieve the profitability originally scoped for the project.

“Their own results will show that on Wednesday, as well as the Denbighshire-commissioned report, Mixed Use Sites Assessment Study, which reveals an apparent shortfall of 1,400 square metres (paragraph 9.3, http://bit.ly/dccmixed) which predates the opening of town-central Stans Superstore, Llangollen.

 

“Ours is an evidence-based response. The results of our house-to-house survey, reaching around 90% of households, are here: http://bit.ly/klssurv

 

“It’s up to them to decide the shell’s future use, whether to landbank it, make it less retail, more a distribution hub since their nearest home delivery centre is Rhyl, or even sell it on to the manufacturing sector, but it’s up to us, Keep Llangollen Special community group and the residents, to ensure that it operates at a loss by beefing-up our Buy Local campaign and assisting the thousands here who will find the site inaccessible, to convert to online shopping and home delivery, which is currently provided free by Tesco just a few minutes’ drive or bus ride away in nearby Cefn Mawr.

 

“National Small Business Saturday takes place on December 5th and once again, Buy Local Day will coincide with it. More initiatives and partnerships are to be confirmed. Meanwhile, if you’re considering online shopping but need some practical help, contact researcher@keepllangollenspecial.org.uk and you can help defend Llangollen too.”