Greengrocer to close 'due to new supermarket' (From Daily Echo)

Well, in all fairness, they've decided to close because of what they think might happen, not because of something that's actually happened. I'm not convinced their trade would be affected, plenty of people still prefer greengrocers and butchers over supermarkets, simply because their produce is usually fresher and better quality.

I prefer Longs in Portswood Road. The staff are friendlier and the produce is fresher. Gannaways was always too dark inside and the staff were not friendly. It did not help that customers, to the International Foods, were always parked on double yellow lines outside Gannaways.

Parking attendants were never seen in Portswood Road. Illegal parking is a real nightmare. Drivers are allowed to do whatever they want in this city.

Sorry to see you go ,.Good luck in the future

I do not agree with the bus depot being sold off in the first place. It was built with tax payers money and the tax payer did not get the return on the £30 million the site was sold for. In 1993 a new lease was signed agreeing that the site has to stay a bus depot for a further 100 years, at the time it had been a transport depot for 115 years at that point. Somebody must have taken a back hander somewhere as that agreement was soon torn up. The new depot in Empress Road is no where big enough, it just proves all company's are interested in asset stripping.

Much as I like going in Gannaways I think this is total crap about Sainsburys. After all, they have a co-op the other side of the road, international foods next door and waitrose 1 min walk away. If they were fine with all those then they will be fine with the new one. Think they just wanted to put the knife in because they were closing anyway...

It comes down to choice. If the choice isn't there people won't look on the high street. If the local guy doesn't have what you want you have to go in the supermarket anyway so why not get everything in there. My local veg guy has more choice and often better quality than the supermarket next door and always seems to be busy. That said I hardly ever shop there as life is so chaotic we live on frozen veg!. I am happy to recommend my local veg man to friends but it would never occur to me to recommend a supermarket(the odd product maybe but rarely) to anybody.

Use a vegetable box delivery service. The only way to get it fresher is to grow your own, locally produced, seasonal, at a good price and they bring it to you. Most of them also have a recipe book or section to help you use all your veg up. Find yourself a fridge on freecycle just to keep your veg in and you may never need to buy them from anywhere else ever again.

Where are they moving?

bravebeth wrote:
I prefer Longs in Portswood Road. The staff are friendlier and the produce is fresher. Gannaways was always too dark inside and the staff were not friendly. It did not help that customers, to the International Foods, were always parked on double yellow lines outside Gannaways. Parking attendants were never seen in Portswood Road. Illegal parking is a real nightmare. Drivers are allowed to do whatever they want in this city.

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Longs wouldn't get a penny of mine.

They must be bananas to go!
They could still get a bite of the cherry, the business is a little gem, and they have plum jobs.

It is easy to ascribe blame, especially on the big supermarkets. I do not necessarily support the supermarkets as they often stifle competition and certainly High Street diversity.

However there is a tremendous amount of competition in Portswood, probably more than anywhere else I know when it comes to green grocery, and from a wide range of different outlets.

My very strong suspicion is that Sainsbury's is more "the final straw" rather than the primary cause and that Gannaway's share of the market has been eroded over the years and has been teetering on the brink of
unviability.

Shame though to see another small shop disappear almost certainly to be replaced by another betting shop or charity shop. I don't expect it to remain empty for long though!

No Gannaways!!! We are all doomed. Someone should make a film about it. Maybe it could be called "The Day After Tomarrow"?

What rubbish - Sainsbury's has not even opened yet - it is an excuse. Portswood already has another large greengrocers, Waitrose, The Co-op - has this not affected their business. Move to the Triangle - we miss the greengrocers that was there...

Supermarkets are a just symptom, not the cause. http://theurbanefora
ger.blogspot.com/201
1_05_01_archive.html

I use both Gannaway's and Longs on a regular basis and always found both welcoming enough.
I also use the Co-op and international foods when I feel inclined or want something that I can't get elsewhere.
If anyone is interested in fruit that is both fresh and free this summer, they should follow the (Urbane) Forager... http://theurbanefora
ger.blogspot.com/
Cheers

Urbane Forager wrote:
Supermarkets are a just symptom, not the cause. http://theurbanefora

ger.blogspot.com/201

1_05_01_archive.html


I use both Gannaway's and Longs on a regular basis and always found both welcoming enough.
I also use the Co-op and international foods when I feel inclined or want something that I can't get elsewhere.
If anyone is interested in fruit that is both fresh and free this summer, they should follow the (Urbane) Forager... http://theurbanefora

ger.blogspot.com/
Cheers

Just make sure that anything you forage is above Grate Dane peeing height.

CEH393 wrote:
I do not agree with the bus depot being sold off in the first place. It was built with tax payers money and the tax payer did not get the return on the £30 million the site was sold for. In 1993 a new lease was signed agreeing that the site has to stay a bus depot for a further 100 years, at the time it had been a transport depot for 115 years at that point. Somebody must have taken a back hander somewhere as that agreement was soon torn up. The new depot in Empress Road is no where big enough, it just proves all company's are interested in asset stripping.

How do you know the new depot isn't big enough, the compay that use it don't seem to be complaining? Why would you continue to use something that was no longer fit for purpose and wasting money when the company could utilise something else 2 mins down the road and save costs, and therefore stay in business? If putting a shop there brings in business and they make a profit I don't see what the issue is, things change thats life, companies shouln't be forced to use something that isn't right just because its been that way for years, that just makes no sense at all...

mooky9 wrote:

CEH393 wrote:
I do not agree with the bus depot being sold off in the first place. It was built with tax payers money and the tax payer did not get the return on the £30 million the site was sold for. In 1993 a new lease was signed agreeing that the site has to stay a bus depot for a further 100 years, at the time it had been a transport depot for 115 years at that point. Somebody must have taken a back hander somewhere as that agreement was soon torn up. The new depot in Empress Road is no where big enough, it just proves all company's are interested in asset stripping.

How do you know the new depot isn't big enough, the compay that use it don't seem to be complaining? Why would you continue to use something that was no longer fit for purpose and wasting money when the company could utilise something else 2 mins down the road and save costs, and therefore stay in business? If putting a shop there brings in business and they make a profit I don't see what the issue is, things change thats life, companies shouln't be forced to use something that isn't right just because its been that way for years, that just makes no sense at all...

Nothing (in form) is forever. Or so I've heard. I fully expect southy to be on here soon to tell me that I'm wrong.

This is totally devastating...I am very sad. Gannaways have been going for 100 years hasn't it?
I was talking to my housemate and we think that shops in Portswood should survive because people still love these small, independent businesses - it's what makes Portswood!
Sainsburys may bring new people in, which could then attract others to visit the independent shops on the street. Although in the end, I don't want Sainsbury's at all if it's going to cause things like this to happen.
This is just another supermarket global domination and it shouldn't be allowed to happen. We need to support our local independent businesses - Gannaways try and source as many produce locally as possible - and I'm very happy to support them...
Perhaps the community can come together to support these guys, and make sure they do not close...We have to take action and not let supermarkets dominate the market.
I also disapprove of the new Sainsburys in Eastleigh as it will do the same and destroy the local, independent businesses!

Stillness wrote:
Use a vegetable box delivery service. The only way to get it fresher is to grow your own, locally produced, seasonal, at a good price and they bring it to you. Most of them also have a recipe book or section to help you use all your veg up. Find yourself a fridge on freecycle just to keep your veg in and you may never need to buy them from anywhere else ever again.

Have to say I use a veggie box service (not as often as I'd like) and it's brilliant :)

Sorry these guys have to close but if their trade is down now that's nothing to do with Sainsburys. Many people still like to shop in small shops though, I guess if you need to compete then you have to up your game?

I think they're using Sainsbury's as an excuse to shut.
here's two instances of Greengrocers doing okay with Sainsbury's next door.
Until Sainsbury's Lordshill took back their shop space there was a successful greengrocers operating there.
Go to Shirley High Street & you'll find one outside the Crown/Tramways pub a bit further down the road you'll find another one.
On a Thursday you'll find an open door market with all types of traders including a greengrocers in the precinct right in front of Sainsbury's

Sounds to me like they have made a commercial decision not to renew their lease when it expires.
But if the Landlord gives them a good deal they will stay.
.
And I wont give money to Longs either.

The trouble is big supermarkets that tend to sale any thing now days they do not speicalise in any thing any more, like they use to like here in this case Sainsbury started life as a mainly a dry and tin food seller, with some fresh food it was the dry and tin stuff that they speicalise in and where they made there money in the beginning, remember that American Company came to this area and registered and english company Carefords Hypermarket this was the start of the big change the Corporations take over.
The truth is big Supermarkets do kill local shops and the jobs that are associated with them, for every one job a Corporation creates it puts 8 people out of a job.
Who can remember Shirley and how busy it was every day except Sundays and Mondays and all those small shops that use to trade along that road and side roads back in the 60's, and Shirley was not the only place that suffered with the Corporations expansion into other business.
Who can remember how busy it use to be at the fruit and veg market in town and the meat and fish market the number of people that use to work at these places, the meat and fish market is totally gone now and the fruit and veg market is just hanging on there with there finger nails.
These food Corporations dont care about the quality of there goods they want it cheap and get it sold fast as posable they want the max amount of profit for the lest amount expense, like the food crop that they buy, a farmers field crop is bought before its even sowed, they dictate when it is to be harvested and 99% of the time the crop is pick before it ripen, when you go to buy say Lamb joint its not real Lamb its young mutton the same happens as in field crops, corporations even tell the abattoirs (Rumfords) what they can and can not do and how much charge for there meats. the same thing in milk, cheese ect ect.
The only part of the food industry that these corporations can not control is eggs, because Lloyds/Stonegate control this part and when the corporation tryed to dictate terms to Lloyds, Lloyds told them to take a bike ride over a cliff, and when they said ok we go some where else, Lloyds said go ahead you find you still be buying off us, because they are the main dealers and own most or have very long term contracts with most of Europe egg farms, plus these that are free lance egg producers get a better deal from Lloyds than they would from Corporation

Walter K wrote:

bravebeth wrote:
I prefer Longs in Portswood Road. The staff are friendlier and the produce is fresher. Gannaways was always too dark inside and the staff were not friendly. It did not help that customers, to the International Foods, were always parked on double yellow lines outside Gannaways. Parking attendants were never seen in Portswood Road. Illegal parking is a real nightmare. Drivers are allowed to do whatever they want in this city.

http://www.dailyecho

.co.uk/announcements

/archive/2010/08/13/

Salisbury+News+%28sa

lisbury_news%29/8332

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r_distributed_vile_i

mages/

Longs wouldn't get a penny of mine.

thanks for that, I always WENT to Longs when in Portswood or Shirley., never again, I feel sick.
Gannaways have an excellent shop in bitterne and they deliver.

pod wrote:

Walter K wrote:

bravebeth wrote:
I prefer Longs in Portswood Road. The staff are friendlier and the produce is fresher. Gannaways was always too dark inside and the staff were not friendly. It did not help that customers, to the International Foods, were always parked on double yellow lines outside Gannaways. Parking attendants were never seen in Portswood Road. Illegal parking is a real nightmare. Drivers are allowed to do whatever they want in this city.

http://www.dailyecho


.co.uk/announcements


/archive/2010/08/13/


Salisbury+News+%28sa


lisbury_news%29/8332


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mages/

Longs wouldn't get a penny of mine.

thanks for that, I always WENT to Longs when in Portswood or Shirley., never again, I feel sick.
Gannaways have an excellent shop in bitterne and they deliver.

Where's Longs in Shirley? as the only permanent shop is on the same side as the police station & I know the owner & he's married to a Thai lady & as far as I know he's never done anything wrong.
So if it's that shop please let me know exactly what he's suppose to have done wrong?
If it's the stall outside of the pub that's fine I won't buy any thing from them

Neither of the shops in Shirley are Longs. The shop in Shirley is called Rolfs and the one outside the pub is Andy Phillips

helsbells wrote:
Neither of the shops in Shirley are Longs. The shop in Shirley is called Rolfs and the one outside the pub is Andy Phillips

I was trying to think where Longs could of been in Shirley and kept coming up with the same answers as you Rolfs and Phillips and both are very good, i seen Rolf go though the veg and fruit many a times checking theres no bad stuff mix up in the trays

I work for Gannaways at their store in Bitterne, and generally the produce is a lot cheaper and fresher then the local supermarket, with a friendlier, happier enviroment.

There is a great florist at the Gannaways too

Its just trying to get people out of the habit of going to a supermarket to get all there produce and to shop around... it is so worth it.

southy wrote:
The trouble is big supermarkets that tend to sale any thing now days they do not speicalise in any thing any more, like they use to like here in this case Sainsbury started life as a mainly a dry and tin food seller, with some fresh food it was the dry and tin stuff that they speicalise in and where they made there money in the beginning, remember that American Company came to this area and registered and english company Carefords Hypermarket this was the start of the big change the Corporations take over.
The truth is big Supermarkets do kill local shops and the jobs that are associated with them, for every one job a Corporation creates it puts 8 people out of a job.
Who can remember Shirley and how busy it was every day except Sundays and Mondays and all those small shops that use to trade along that road and side roads back in the 60's, and Shirley was not the only place that suffered with the Corporations expansion into other business.
Who can remember how busy it use to be at the fruit and veg market in town and the meat and fish market the number of people that use to work at these places, the meat and fish market is totally gone now and the fruit and veg market is just hanging on there with there finger nails.
These food Corporations dont care about the quality of there goods they want it cheap and get it sold fast as posable they want the max amount of profit for the lest amount expense, like the food crop that they buy, a farmers field crop is bought before its even sowed, they dictate when it is to be harvested and 99% of the time the crop is pick before it ripen, when you go to buy say Lamb joint its not real Lamb its young mutton the same happens as in field crops, corporations even tell the abattoirs (Rumfords) what they can and can not do and how much charge for there meats. the same thing in milk, cheese ect ect.
The only part of the food industry that these corporations can not control is eggs, because Lloyds/Stonegate control this part and when the corporation tryed to dictate terms to Lloyds, Lloyds told them to take a bike ride over a cliff, and when they said ok we go some where else, Lloyds said go ahead you find you still be buying off us, because they are the main dealers and own most or have very long term contracts with most of Europe egg farms, plus these that are free lance egg producers get a better deal from Lloyds than they would from Corporation

Ease up! You will be giving the real southy a bad name.

What happened to the four lovely staff you had, that has departed recently? Where have they gone? Since they left the profits were bound to go down because the friendly service has gone.

Gannaways weren't helped by International Foods expanding into the old Woolworths store a few years ago.

I dont believe Sainsbury's is to blame one bit, think they are being used more as a scapegoat. As they still have their shop open in Bitterne and profits are being made. Have been using Gannaways on a regular basis but now all of a sudden all of the friendly staff have disappeared. Feel sorry for the hard working staff that have gone. Good luck to them.

Whatever the true reasons for Gannaway's closing, it does raise a longer term issue. Whenever a new development is touted, all we hear about is how many jobs it will bring. No-one ever seems to follow up and see how many jobs are lost consequently (usually in batches of smaller numbers) as small shop close, i.e. what is the nett effect on jobs in the area over a longer period?

Also, does no-one in the council have any influence on developments like Sainsburys Portswood? Couldn't they have designed it a bit more to fit in with the local area rather than a hideous (cheap) metal clad building?

helsbells wrote:
Neither of the shops in Shirley are Longs. The shop in Shirley is called Rolfs and the one outside the pub is Andy Phillips

Thank You. my wife likes to buy fruit & veg from these when we go to Shirley so when the above post said they wouldn't shop in Longs in Shirley I couldn't think of where they were.
The Greengrocer in Lordshill was doing a very good trade but When Sainsbury's expanded there were not enough shop spaces to accommodate all the displaced shops ( they had empty ones & had to move into those) Sainsbury's gave one to a charity but had no room for the G/grocers.
This was looked upon as them getting rid of the competition.
So a private shop can compete next to Sainsbury's

I am really sorry that Gannaway's is closing. It seems rather obvious to me as a customer that Sainsbury's is going to deal a huge blow to all the food shops in Portswood Road (except perhaps International Foods with its largely Muslim customers). Portswood Road is one of the few real small shopping streets left in Southampton.
Gannaway's does now have a very good branch in Bitterne but it's not facing the threat there that Portswood Road's shops are.
It isn't only small shops that are going to be hit by Sainsbury's: it's going to give Waitrose a long-deserved shake up as well.
I do not want to make comparisons between Gannaway's and Long's, although I have tended to use Gannaway's more often, but Long's has recently spent quite a bit up-rating its shop's interior, so I hope they intend to carry on.
Instead of some people moaning about Gannaway's I would like to thank the Gannaways for providing Portswood with a good independent greengrocers for 35 years and I wish them and their staff all the best for the future.

if Gannaways cannot compete with sainsburys why has he just opened a new shop in bitterne right near a saisburys?

Just seems like a massive excuse with just a hint of scarmongering from the echo, maybe the lease is up and bitterne does better

Blaming Sainsburys for their demise seems odd as Gannaways have recently opened a store in Bitterne precinct which is dominated by .......Sainsburys !!

Gannaways don't seem to mind going into direct competition with a long established florists, 2 doors away, by under-cutting them on flowers, pot-plants etc.

Gannaways need to stop trying to court sympathy by whinging and get on with running their own business without worrying about others'.

there will be a lot of anti Sainsburys moaners but Portswood had a lot of rubbish shops out there. The chippy wasn't good and that's closed. Had it been better it may have survived. The tobacconist has merged with the off licence next door and the shop at the front of the post office is now an estate agent.

Walter K wrote:

bravebeth wrote:
I prefer Longs in Portswood Road. The staff are friendlier and the produce is fresher. Gannaways was always too dark inside and the staff were not friendly. It did not help that customers, to the International Foods, were always parked on double yellow lines outside Gannaways. Parking attendants were never seen in Portswood Road. Illegal parking is a real nightmare. Drivers are allowed to do whatever they want in this city.

http://www.dailyecho

.co.uk/announcements

/archive/2010/08/13/

Salisbury+News+%28sa

lisbury_news%29/8332

091.Well_known_groce

r_distributed_vile_i

mages/

Longs wouldn't get a penny of mine.

Hi I can't get the link up. Could you explain what the story's about?

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dvertiser.co.uk/arch
ive/2010/08/13/Salis
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/y this one...

katie79 wrote:
I work for Gannaways at their store in Bitterne, and generally the produce is a lot cheaper and fresher then the local supermarket, with a friendlier, happier enviroment.

There is a great florist at the Gannaways too

Its just trying to get people out of the habit of going to a supermarket to get all there produce and to shop around... it is so worth it.

you are so right, people complain about major supermarkets taking business away from local independent retailers but how many still succombe to their aggressive price cuts? I too find Gannaways provide better selection and value than the other options in Bitterne, will always spend money there out of principle...

As someone who has seen what super markets have done to my industry from day one and in several countries. I am 72 and my trade was/is the bakery trade. These grocers are right to shut up shop because they will NOT survive this Sainsbury opening in Portswood. Neither will many of the other independent stores along the Portswood Road. Personal service has given rise to obnoxious arrogant take it or leave it industries like the supermarkets. From here on there will be nothing but what they call fresh frozen or GM foods. These are foods genetically altered or are packed in a gas to prevent staling and delay rotting. Gone are the days of fresh produce made on the premises by skilled operators, such as your qualified baker or your fresh market butcher. Ive seen it all happen and the prices rise to support a larger colder store. Wages go down, unemployment goes up. Criminal activity goes through the roof and only immigrants get to work while the English emigrate to places like Canada and Australia where the skilled employee is still only a minority.

Cookiecutter wrote:
As someone who has seen what super markets have done to my industry from day one and in several countries. I am 72 and my trade was/is the bakery trade. These grocers are right to shut up shop because they will NOT survive this Sainsbury opening in Portswood. Neither will many of the other independent stores along the Portswood Road. Personal service has given rise to obnoxious arrogant take it or leave it industries like the supermarkets. From here on there will be nothing but what they call fresh frozen or GM foods. These are foods genetically altered or are packed in a gas to prevent staling and delay rotting. Gone are the days of fresh produce made on the premises by skilled operators, such as your qualified baker or your fresh market butcher. Ive seen it all happen and the prices rise to support a larger colder store. Wages go down, unemployment goes up. Criminal activity goes through the roof and only immigrants get to work while the English emigrate to places like Canada and Australia where the skilled employee is still only a minority.

Sorry to question your post but many people seem to be going back to the small man/woman.
if your in a hurry then go into a supermarket but if you want good value shop around.
Soon if the telly's telling the truth we'll all be buying a goods ( food) on the internet.
I for one will always go to the shops & look around all the various stores before buying

Hi guys,
sorry I have been away... halfway there I realised that I said Longs was also in Shirley - my mistake entirely, I always WENT to Longs in Portswood, but will never again having read the article (and thanks to the posters who brought it to our attention). If I am in Shirley it is Rolfs I use, and they are excellent. Living in Bitterne it is mostly gannaways I use, unless I have been to the car boot sale and bought from locally grown veg from a very nice couple who also make lovely pies.I stopped using big supermarkets about 3 years ago, and I have definetley saved money. It makes me smile that not only do the supermarkets want us to spend all our money with them, they cannot even provide a human being to serve us. My money is hard earned, so when I hand it over I only go where I get good service.
Once again apologies for my mistake, logged on cos I knew that many would be keen to correct me!!!

Everything I used to buy from Gannaways always went off after a few days! So it became a false economy for me to shop there because so much was being thrown away!!

pod wrote:
Hi guys,
sorry I have been away... halfway there I realised that I said Longs was also in Shirley - my mistake entirely, I always WENT to Longs in Portswood, but will never again having read the article (and thanks to the posters who brought it to our attention). If I am in Shirley it is Rolfs I use, and they are excellent. Living in Bitterne it is mostly gannaways I use, unless I have been to the car boot sale and bought from locally grown veg from a very nice couple who also make lovely pies.I stopped using big supermarkets about 3 years ago, and I have definetley saved money. It makes me smile that not only do the supermarkets want us to spend all our money with them, they cannot even provide a human being to serve us. My money is hard earned, so when I hand it over I only go where I get good service.
Once again apologies for my mistake, logged on cos I knew that many would be keen to correct me!!!

Thank you as my wife gets on well with his & I hope to many people haven't stopped going to his shop as he does work hard

HerbertC:
"Whenever a new development is touted, all we hear about is how many jobs it will bring. No-one ever seems to follow up and see how many jobs are lost consequently (usually in batches of smaller numbers) as small shop close"
I FULLY agree with you - I hate the fact places like Sainsburys say it will bring new jobs, but yet they don't think about the losses elsewhere. It is horrible to think how these small local businesses suffer.

Cookiecutter - I really hope that people will keep supporting local businesses around Portswood, I agree with you and it is very sad - we must move towards creating a local economy of independent businesses!

Stillness wrote:

Urbane Forager wrote: Supermarkets are a just symptom, not the cause. http://theurbanefora ger.blogspot.com/201 1_05_01_archive.html I use both Gannaway's and Longs on a regular basis and always found both welcoming enough. I also use the Co-op and international foods when I feel inclined or want something that I can't get elsewhere. If anyone is interested in fruit that is both fresh and free this summer, they should follow the (Urbane) Forager... http://theurbanefora ger.blogspot.com/ Cheers

Just make sure that anything you forage is above Grate Dane peeing height.

I'd be more worried about animals like you ;-)
Anyway, when was the last time you saw a greatdane up a cherry tree?