Concern as trade falls 20 per cent since Spar takeover (From Warrington Guardian)

Concern as trade falls 20 per cent since Spar takeover

11:01am Thursday 9th July 2009

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TRADE in Lymm village has dropped 20 per centre since Spar took over running the former Somerfield store.

The Lymm Traders group say since Spar took on the shelves earlier this year, footfall in the rest of the village has dropped.

Phil Sexton, who owns Sextons in the centre of the village and is in the group, said the variety of food now available means there is not enough for people to rely on.

“When it was Somerfield, people used to be able to have their weekly shop there and then come to the rest of the shops.

“You just cannot do that now and trade is about 20 per cent down for most people. We have spoken to them (Spar) and we are hoping something can now be done.”

The traders group wrote to Lymm Parish Council earlier in the year to raise the problem and the regional boss will be at the next meeting next week’s meeting.

Spar says it is considering changing the store, based on The Cross, into a Euro Spar – more like a supermarket as previous owners Somerfield ran it.

Mr Sexton says there are still plenty of reasons for shoppers to use the village – especially since the pay and display car park experiment was launched at Pepper Street last week.

He added: “We have lots of variety and specialist shops for people to enjoy. We hope people try out the village to see what is on offer because then it will be sustainable.”

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