Under pressure from supermarkets and 'symbol' groups, independent corner stores are an endangered species, but what's the social cost of their disappearance? asks Paul Cullen.
CHICKEN FILLETS ARE selling at €6.08 for six in Howard Foster's shop in Marino, and four pork chops cost a fiver, but you'd better hurry if you're interested because it's closing down today. After 55 years in business, Foster's shuts its doors today, one more small casualty in the David versus Goliath battle between independent corner stores and large retail multiples. Once there were 16,000 grocery stores in the country; today Rgdata, the group representing the sector, has 4,000 members. Only one-third of these are not aligned to a "symbol" group such as Spar or Centra.
It's the end of an era for Howard Foster, whose dad opened the shop on the Malahide Road in the 1950s, but also for his regulars in the north Dublin suburb. "This used to be known as the local goldmine. We always did a flourishing trade," he says, apologising for the state of the shop, with its shelves half-empty prior to closure. "This place was packed to the roof with stuff, with lots of special offers too, but there didn't seem to be any more point in restocking when we're going out of business." Shopping here is an act of social communion, not just an exchange of goods for money. Everyone who comes into the store while I'm there is on first-name terms with the owner; pleasantries are shared, then conversation develops and deepens. Yet all the customers I see are aged over 40.
Foster, dressed in white butcher's coat and green striped apron and possessed of a generous moustache, looks like a grocer from a bygone age. Philosophy is dispensed freely as he scrubs his butcher's block, the surface of its wood rippled from years of use.
"There's none of us left any more," he sighs while bagging two chickens, a snip at €6.99 for the pair. "We're the old types, more than a convenience store, part of the community. Trouble is, the community isn't what it was."
"Where are we going to shop now?" asks Marion, who's been shopping here for years. "We can go to other places, but it won't be the same." Another customer, Robbie, says all the traditional shops in the area have gone since he moved here 12 years ago. If you were short a few bob, you could always bring the money to Foster's the next day, or you could leave your key there if you had a visitor calling while you were out. There's a glitzy Spar on the main road nearby, but Robbie is dismissive: "You're only a 'next please' in those shops."
The chat moves on to the general level of aggression in society and how everybody is always in a rush - though not here, clearly - but a man who moved to the area last year is more optimistic: "This place is reinvigorating itself. In any case, the recession that's coming will put everyone back on the ground again."
At 54, Foster is leaving the business early. The years of standing have taken its toll on his legs, but he's not retiring for health reasons. He doesn't resent the long hours - 6.30am to 6.15pm six days a week, with paperwork to get through on Sundays, and few holidays. He's had a few robberies over the 35 years he had been running the shop, but "nothing serious".
Nor is price the main reason for the decline in his business, he says. "People just don't want to walk any more. The car has taken over every corner of this city. And they can't find parking here." He is also faced with multiplying strands of competition from the big retail players. While convenience stores spread like wildfire through the city's streets, the supermarkets are opening for ever longer hours. For Foster, the straw that broke the camel's back was the decision by Superquinn, located five miles up the road in Sutton, to start opening late at night. "I'm not bitter. We just got caught in the crossfire," he surmises.
"It's very difficult now to survive as a 'mom and pop' corner store," confirms Tara Buckley, chief executive of Rgdata. "You have to be a certain size now to be viable and you can't get along by selling the old reliables like ambient food, cigarettes and newspapers." Bit by bit, the supermarkets have moved into the old preserves of small stores, she points out, such as confectionery, flowers and tobacco.
As the number of independent operators falls, so the distribution channels become more ropey. One of Foster's breadmen says he's now stocking just three independent stores in north Dublin.
Getting the right goods to sell at the right price is already a difficulty for independent operators. When Dunnes Stores - which currently uses independent distributors who also supply small stores - opens a central distribution facility next year, the economics of supplying these stores with small quantities will become even more challenging.
Buckley can cite independent operators who have bucked the trend, but these are exceptions to the rule and she says most acknowledge that they would not like to be starting from scratch today. Peter Ward, who runs Country Choice in Nenagh, for example, has established a niche reputation for high-quality food, while shops such as Marshall's in Mullingar and Joyce's in Galway have expanded to meet the challenge from bigger rivals.
In Connemara, Veldon's of Letterfrack recently built a new store and, while it receives some supplies from one of the symbol groups, opted to stay independent. "We wanted to be free to buy on the open market," says Peter Veldon (who, I should declare, is my father-in-law). "We always wanted to do our own thing, to create our own image." Veldon believes there is reason for optimism for traditional food stores. "I don't believe it's becoming more difficult, or maybe it's different in the country. It's not for the faint-hearted but if you've fight in you, you'll take on the challenge."
In the cities, the bland look of convenience chain stores, with their plastic shopfronts and uniform design, mirrors their inner appearance. The rapid turnover of mostly migrant worker staff is hardly conducive to community bonding. Buckley says things are different outside Dublin, however, with much greater emphasis placed on the local names involved in businesses. The latest threat is the growth of smaller "metro" stores operated by Marks & Spencer and Tesco, which are likely to mop up the last remaining pools of business for corner shops in inner-city areas.
Price isn't the obstacle that some might believe it to be, a fact confirmed by the National Consumer Agency's recent retail price survey. While the headlines were grabbed by the battle between the big retailers, there was good news too for independent operators. "In lots of places, we found it was cheaper to buy fruit and veg and fresh meat from independent retailers, while Dunnes Stores and Tesco are failing to compete on price," says NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald. "The clear message is that consumers should split their shopping between different retailers, and that includes local shops."
Foster, however, reached his particular crossroads last Christmas. With sales declining and overheads rising, he faced a choice - adapt or die. "Going upmarket wasn't an option in this area, and joining a symbol was too expensive." In the end, he put the business out of its misery.
After this weekend, he plans to put the premises, which he owns, up for rent. "I can't say at this stage what will happen. It could even end up as another shop."