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Stores celebrate victory over shopping giant

Chris Jones
17/ 7/2008

HOLLIN shopkeepers and residents are celebrating after a supermarket giant shelved plans to open a rival store.

Locals had raised concerns that a planning application by the Co-op to develop a new retail unit along Rochdale Road threatened the future of the Nowell Road shops, along with other nearby stores.

They launched a petition against the UK’s fifth largest food retailers’ proposals, and were backed by members of the local community who were determined to see their local convenience stores survive.

And last month, the Rochdale-founded firm withdrew its planning application, scrapping plans to turn 96 – 100 Rochdale Road into its newest supermarket.

The assistant manager at VJ's Newsagents on Nowell Road, Paul Edmond, who instigated the petition, said he was pleased the supermarket firm ditched its plans

He said: "We had hundreds of signatures against the plans even though the petition was only placed in three shops –VJ’s Newsagents, Estate Wines and the Select and Save.

"People said they did not see the point of having this new shop when there are already the facilities they need."

Mr Edmond, who has worked at the popular Nowell Road newsagents as assistant manager for the past two years, added residents were concerned they would lose a hub of the community.

Mr Edmond said: "I know about 90 per cent of the people who come in here and VJ, who has run the shop for the past 10 years, knows everyone. It’s a hub of the community and people were worried about losing that to a big company like the Co-op.

"As soon as people heard about the plans they were more than happy to sign the petition, especially the older people as we provide home delivery services for pensioners that a big supermarket just couldn't."

Under the plans submitted by the Co-op back in March , the new store would also have contained a hot food takeaway facility in March.

The plans sparked outrage among local retailers, who launched their petition against the proposals. The Co-op withdrew its plans at the end of June.

Mr Edmond added he would like to thank everyone who signed the petition, wrote letters and supported the campaign against the Co-op’s proposals.

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