What with all the new residents in the centre of town, and no food shops within (easy) walking distance open in the evenings, I wonder if it would be feasible to return the old Dunelm shop to the small but very handy supermarket that it once was?

I suppose many will think "why another one?" but if you live very centrally and don't have a car, and work full-time, a small supermarket, open later than 6pm, would be an absolute boon.

At any rate, I hope something comes there. Market Street now has the empty Dunelm shop, the empty pet shop and of course the huge ground floor of Talbot House that was supposed to be a restaurant by now.

Who else wants a central town-centre supermarket open in the evenings?

Waitrose is about the only significant supermarket that doesn't have a presence in the town, i'd welcome them coming if they were going to open later.

I'd prefer a Harry Tuffins

Asda isn't far though, and it's open till 10.

Wasn't the Dunelm shop once a Tesco store long ago?

Evening gang or perhaps I shouldnt say gang. A conveneince store in the middle of town would be very convenient. Waitrose seem very expensive for my pocket perhaps Spa would set up shop or as TW said Harry Tuffins

Do none of you who want a convenience store/supermarket in the riverloop know how to find Somerfield and/or Cooltrader? :)

Somerfield's open till seven on Fridays and Saturdays too, which means I don't have to peg it from the train station when I get back to town at 17:48 on a weekday.

Yes, fortunately I do know how to find those places.

Alas though, alas..

Cooltrader is fine if you like a sort of down-market Aldi (who'd have thought it possible) and if you happen to want what little they have on the shelves that week.

Somerfield (although they do allegedly make a rather nice fruitcake according to an old bat I know) is only open till 6 most nights, (except the nights I want to go out!) and their fresh fruit and vegetables are of variable quality assuming you can find any at all.

I know, I know... but it is 2007 - many people myself included expect a little more than 1970s supermarket standards. So, I agree with some posters - Waitrose would be lovely. I've written to them..

No really, I have.

Aldi actually have some very good stuff, some of their own-brand prodcts are similar to Tesco Finest or Sainsburys Taste the Difference but with a much lower price. The selections are fairly limited though.

Somerfield is ok at a push bt the queues are often long and it does feel like a 70s throwback. The buther and greengrocer opposite are much better but they shut early.

The empty Dunelm was a Tesco shop many moons ago. And we could certainly do with it being opened up as a similar supermarket again. Somerfield seems to be running its store down lately. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed.

I have a feeling that those premises were , in fact, the town's first supermarket.

Isn't Waitrose more of a Southern thing? I seem to remember them (or someone connected - I was working for a bag manufacture that summer) saying that the Newport branch was their furthest North (when it was opened), and that's saying something...

Having ''googled'' Waitrose I came up with this so the company is certainly not only South of Watford! Clic Here Put your postcode in and you will see where local shops are. I find waitrose slightly more expensive than the regular retail bunch.

Waitrose is found more in the southern half of England than elsewhere in the UK and Chingwakabungya is right - when they opened up at the old Safeway store in Newport a few years ago it was the most northern Waitrose store for a while.

Waitrose are part of the John Lewis Partnership, I believe and there was talk of the old Safeways, Potts Way, becoming one but it went to Newport instead.

It is upmarket and expensive but I could imagine it succeeding in the town centre. There was talk of Lidl having a town centre store when they applied for the Harlescott site but their experience of our planning committee has been such that IMHO it is doubtful they would bother to apply.

Lidl might also have decided not to compete with Netto. They have a very similar customer base, I think.

[edit - not to compete in the town centre, I mean... if I (a non-driver) want a cheap-ass supermarket then I go down to Abbey Foregate rather than all the way out to where Lidl area. ]

Waitrose would be in competition for the people who do their grocery shopping at M&S, it is a bit more expensive than the usual but it's nice for a change.

They are mostly southern but they do have a few oop north these days.

Waitrose have outlets all over England not only in the south. See Here

If you look at that map and draw a line between the Bristol Channel and The Wash, about 80% of the stores are to the south of the line, that's why I said they are mostly southern.

Depends where you draw the line over southern britain really? :D

I love how they've put their Newport store in the middle of the Stiperstones!! :rolleyes:

Yeah, but that wasn't the case 3 years ago. Hence my very specific reference to Newport's opening. The selling of Safeway was a rather large event in the supermarket industry...