'Sainsbury's store would ruin business' say East Oxford traders

10:00am Thursday 29th July 2010

By Amanda Williams

TRADERS fear they will be forced out of business if Sainsbury’s is allowed to open a store on the edge of East Oxford.

The supermarket giant is seeking permission to open one of its convenience stores on the site of the former Threshers wine store on The Plain roundabout.

Last night the company confirmed it had submitted an application for an alcohol licence to Oxford City Council, and it is expected to put forward a planning application for shop frontages in the next two weeks.

It said it hoped the new store would complement local traders, but news-agents and cafés along St Clement’s claim their business will be damaged and street drinking will increase if the application is successful.

Suresh Kumar, who owns R and H newsagents at 89, St Clement’s, has organised a petition against the store moving in and has already gathered 200 signatures.

“At the moment they all congregate around the entrance of nearby supermarkets and along the Cowley Road.

“I’m concerned if they open a Sainsbury’s here they will all just move along the road and come to St Clement’s.”

Tom Burpitt, 21, whose family own Le Petit Pain which sells baguettes, added: “It will make things difficult because they will be selling similar things.

“It’s not just our business it will affect, it is also all the local people we buy from.”

Erica Steinhauer, who has been trying sell her shop Bead Games, in Cowley Road, said the proposals had hit her “personally”.

She said: “I had someone looking to open a general store at Bead Games and has now dropped out which leaves me at my post until my 25 year lease runs out in March.

“More generally it leaves me saddened and concerned for the diverse small grocery and delicatessen shops on the lower end of Cowley Road.”

However, Alison Clegg, 29, who owns HIM hair stylists, said she would welcome a Sainsbury’s store.

She said: “It would be quite good, although I understand why the newsagents are concerned, because it will be quite hard to compete with them for prices.”

Sainsbury’s already has two stores in the city centre, one in Magdalen Street and one in the Westgate Shopping Centre, while Tesco has a Metro shop in neighbouring Cowley Road, with two more stores due to open Magdalen Street, and St Aldate’s, next month.

Tesco is also planning to build an Express store on the site of the former Fox and Hounds pub, at the junction with Weirs Lane.

She said: “We hope what we offer will complement local traders and drive footfall to the area, rather than drive down trade for other people. We will be available for top up shopping for people who may have forgotten something off their weekly shop and can drop in on their way home.”