keep St Andrews what it is, PLEASE!

[johness]

St Andrews is known for many things- 'the home of golf', the oldest Scottish university, being a wee seaside town, etc. As I was picking up some bits and pieces in town today I realised that more and more local businesses are giving way to bigger corporations. While I understand capitalism blah blah...I thought this town had some sort of policy on not letting big corporations invade? Subway, Starbucks (both huge American chains), Tesco (perhaps the worst offender), Beanscene, Waterstones (no student discount...that mysteriously disappeared when it changed for Ottakars after the wee woman who dealt in new and used books was forced to sell out to yet another golf shop), Boots, New Look, Holland and Barratt, Phones 4 U, Costa, Fat Face, Carphone Warehouse ARE ALL HUGE CHAINS. The Vic and The West Port are owned by McLay Inns, yet another HUGE CHAIN, who do not source their goods locally (apart from some vegetables and certain meat produce). The wee coffee shop on Market Street has had to close and I've had enough. Local scottish people are being squished (for want of a better word) and cannot afford to compete in such an environment, which I think is a real shame. While being a student here I understand the frustration of not being able to get your hands on what you want/ need, without a trip to Dundee or a credit card bashing on the internet, but I know I would be much happier supporting new/ first time/ local and first time business owners. What do you think?

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[s]As I walk away, I look over my shoulder to see what I'm leaving behind. Pieces of puzzles and wishes on eyelashes failed...[/s]

[Jono]

And how exactly do you propose we turf out the big business? Perhaps some kind of Scotch Cattle action is in order?

Sadly, this is the way the world turns. I know that St. Andrews is supposed to be in a bubble, isolated from the rest of reality, but same sort of thing is happening to every other small town in Britain; and have been for the last 10-20 years. This is just the way things are!



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Exclusive to The Sinner, and all other fora.

[DrAlex]

Quoting Jono from 16:10, 11th Jul 2007
This is just the way things are!

Exactly, this isn't exactly a new nor a unique problem...

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The Sinner: Where no one ever learned "if you haven't got any thing nice to say, don't say anything at all."

[novium]

Which coffee shop has closed on market street?

in any case, we are in a tourist/student town. They both involve a high amount of turn-over. Tourists and students are just on their way to somewhere else, you know? So there's no real loyalty to small local shops. Also, tourists and students tend to mean that rents and etc skyrocket. the local shops that own their buildings then have a financial incentive to sell (especially if they'll make more money than they could expect to while in operation), and shops that have to pay rent are squeezed out. They can't compete with the financial resources of the big chains, who can tolerate the rise in rent etc without changing their prices too much.

There's no real solution. Pretty much any action has negative consequences. No one wants to live in a town that's gone completely corporate. how sterile and boring is that? yet on the other hand, no one wants to gut the local economy, because that drives locals out as well. Restricting development and etc just means that things get more expensive, bringing you back to square one. Technically, i suppose it'd be possible for something to happen that would make St Andrews unattractive to both tourists and students, but that would just gut the economy ... and isn't golf and the university (especially) very much a part of the culture and history of st andrews?


I've thought on this a lot, because the same problem basically exists at home, although I worry more about cookie-cutter development than chains (although i worry about them too). Many of the things I love so dearly about the bay area and California in general are being destroyed. And the destruction is because people want to live there. eventually, their desire to live there will destroy the reasons that made them want to live there in the first place, and so the pressures will only ease up when it has been turned into a barren wasteland hellhole.
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quem neque periculi tempestas neque honoris aura potuit umquaum du suo cursu aut spe aut metu demovere.

[johness]

I'm not proposing to turf them out, I am only suggesting we don't let anymore in. I understand that 'it is the way it is'but that's a pretty crap attitude. It also means prices can be easily manipulated and the element of competition eliminated. Imagine if the only restaurants you could go to were chain restaurants, everyting looks the same, tastes the same (Zizzi is the same in Glasgow, Edinburgh, what if there was a Pizza Express in near enough every postcode?). I would like opinions on the situation not just a shrug of the shoulders. What if all the pubs were chain pubs- imagine our beloved Aikman's became a Weatherspoons?

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[s]As I walk away, I look over my shoulder to see what I'm leaving behind. Pieces of puzzles and wishes on eyelashes failed...[/s]

[Haunted]

We demand cheaper prices, they supply cheaper providers

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Now with 100% more corn

[Lid]

Well, Curry's will be closing in the not-too-distant future, rumour has it. I'd like to say it was because they couldn't compete against KK Electrics (a local business), but I think it's a mass move to the internet.

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Mathematical Anti Telharsic Harfatum Septomin

[househunter]

The wee woman that you refer to wasn't forced to sell, she wanted to retire and so sold the shop for some retirement money.

[ARTooD2]

Quoting johness from 16:21, 11th Jul 2007

What if all the pubs were chain pubs- imagine our beloved Aikman's became a Weatherspoons?

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[s]As I walk away, I look over my shoulder to see what I'm leaving behind. Pieces of puzzles and wishes on eyelashes failed...[/s]

It would be cheaper, much cleaner and an all round nicer place to enjoy an alcoholic beverage...



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King Sinner

[flossy]

Local businesses that can offer something that the larger chains cannot / will not will always remain popular e.g. Ian Joy Photography, the Game shop, the butchers. Local people will vote with their feet and seem not to mind spending a wee bit extra if the service and goods provided are of a higher quality than in the chain stores.

The little coffee shop on Market St (Snug and Cosy?) is closing because nobody goes in there. A bit of advertising and maybe a niche market product would have helped it stay open - after all, Rendez-Vous, Con Panna and Gorgeous all seem to be doing well. I for one will not support a business simply because it is local and not a chain - it has to deliver the goods.

(FYI Waterstones policy is to only offer student discount in September)

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If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the substrate.

[angel_kohaku]

Beanscene is hardly a corporate giant that you make it out to be.

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I may be a pretty sad case but I don't write jokes in base 13

[Frank]

The trouble isn't that locals are always bought out by corporations, but that we simply don't have (m)any businesses that are better than the corporations who want the space?

I can't even begin to think what it'd be. And even then, if this local business was really successful: Why shouldn't it become a/part of a corporation eventually?

I'm really racking my brains to figure out a good business that could do with being in St Andrews that'd compete against and with everything. Still can't quite place it, but I'm sure it'll come...

(And thus give me something to think about for when/if I graduate...)

Personally, so long as the look and idea of St Andrews doesn't change, I wouldn't really care. It's only locals and resident academics whom it matters to if it changes. For students, it doesn't really matter, they'll only be there for X (where X < locals and academics) years anyway...

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"There is only ever one truth. Things are always black or white, there's no such thing as a shade of grey. If you think that something is a shade of grey it simply means that you don't fully understand the situation. The truth is narrow and the path of the pursuit of truth is similarly narrow."

[Mehmsy]

Oh no, corporate meanies providing good quality products at cheap prices! I wish everything was nice and rural so I could have a low selection of products at more expensive prices, because I'm getting tired of swimming in all this money.

Where'd I put my Che Guevara shirt again?

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37106593

[The Jaspar]

You forgot my favourite shop, Jack Wills!

[johness]

Quoting Mehmsy from 20:04, 11th Jul 2007
Oh no, corporate meanies providing good quality products at cheap prices! I wish everything was nice and rural so I could have a low selection of products at more expensive prices, because I'm getting tired of swimming in all this money.

Where'd I put my Che Guevara shirt again?
id=37106593

hahahahaha, I WISH!

I'm not just a student here, I live here. If I was swimming in money I'd buy a place and source everything locally, it may be an idealistic attitude, but I've got morals and before it's beaten out of me I wanted to take a stand.

ffs, Beanscene was just an example DUH.

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[s]As I walk away, I look over my shoulder to see what I'm leaving behind. Pieces of puzzles and wishes on eyelashes failed...[/s]

[ARTooD2]

Quoting johness from 13:42, 12th Jul 2007

Quoting Mehmsy from 20:04, 11th Jul 2007
Oh no, corporate meanies providing good quality products at cheap prices! I wish everything was nice and rural so I could have a low selection of products at more expensive prices, because I'm getting tired of swimming in all this money.

Where'd I put my Che Guevara shirt again?
id=37106593

hahahahaha, I WISH!

I'm not just a student here, I live here. If I was swimming in money I'd buy a place and source everything locally, it may be an idealistic attitude, but I've got morals and before it's beaten out of me I wanted to take a stand.

ffs, Beanscene was just an example DUH.

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[s]As I walk away, I look over my shoulder to see what I'm leaving behind. Pieces of puzzles and wishes on eyelashes failed...[/s]

And are you trying to say that everyone that wants something that isn't available locally or just happens to like the chain stores has no morals?

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King Sinner

[rodney]

Funny that, having golf shops in the home of golf. Who'd have thought?

Quoting johness from 15:57, 11th Jul 2007
after the wee woman who dealt in new and used books was forced to sell out to yet another golf shop
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[s]As I walk away, I look over my shoulder to see what I'm leaving behind. Pieces of puzzles and wishes on eyelashes failed...[/s]

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What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Raindog]

Sounds like you just don't like businesses. Grow your own hippy.

[rodney]

There are quite a few of them in the south of England, so there goes that idea...

Quoting johness from 16:21, 11th Jul 2007
what if there was a Pizza Express in near enough every postcode?
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[s]As I walk away, I look over my shoulder to see what I'm leaving behind. Pieces of puzzles and wishes on eyelashes failed...[/s]

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What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

[mhuzzell]

Quoting DrAlex from 16:13, 11th Jul 2007

Quoting Jono from 16:10, 11th Jul 2007
This is just the way things are!

Exactly, this isn't exactly a new nor a unique problem...

But that doesn't mean it isn't a problem.

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I FOUND JESUS... he was behind the couch the whole time!