Major superstores would suck the life out of town centres blighting urban and rural communities, it was claimed yesterday.
Ms Anne Dunphy, marketing director of the Musgrave SuperValu-Centra group, which represents over 400 independent retailers in the Republic, told a seminar of the Association of Municipal Authorities in Castlebar, Co Mayo, that independent retailers are often the key economic forces in the centre of small towns and villages.