This is a pie chart giving an overall look of what the provision is like.
Tesco decided that they wanted to open a new superstore in the Wigston area. Many various factors had to be considered to guarantee the success of the new location; which is why in 2001 a proposal was made to build on the derelict land which was once Forstells hosiery factory on the main Blaby road.
The size of the chosen site was perfect for what Tesco had offered. With this land, they were able to build the huge superstore equipped with, 511 car parking spaces, a new petrol station and a service area (for recycling). What made it better was that it was a Brownfield site, meaning that the site is abandoned land once used for industrial purposes or certain commercial uses. This land is cheaper and has facilities such as gas, water and electricity already going to it.
Here is an example of a Brownfield site
The site is located to the north of the well used Blaby road. Therefore it is really easily accessible as the Blaby road links together Wigston and Blaby making it usable for more people. With the site being here, Tesco can get a lot of passing trade, meaning that unfamiliar people using the road will either pop in just for a nosy look or to pick up needed items.
The next ‘superstore’ as such is Sainsbury’s in Wigston, then after that the Oadby Asda. This site doesn’t beckon for any competition. With Tesco being apart of a multinational chain, they are able to lower their prices considerably, especially compared to smaller shops, they are able to appeal to people and families living on a lower income who live in South Wigston and surrounding areas, it is also a very densely populated area. Linking with that, the locals would no longer have to fork out on fuel or taxi fare to get their shopping from further locations, as it’s pretty central and easy to get to.
Tesco’s two main rivals.
From the field work I carried out I discovered that the majority of the public thought that the superstore was a great idea.
It is true that the new Tesco superstore improves the sight of South Wigston. As you can imagine, for the residents living opposite the store, it is a much better view. Now that this store looks so modern, it may be an incentive for the other shops on the Blaby road to fix up, a start of regeneration to the whole centre.
Vs.
Shoppers have made pretty good use of the 511 car parking spaces, proving also a great advantage to the residents. Prior to Tesco opening, there only was the one little car park behind the Coop supermarket, residents have complained to their council about how their streets and fronts are being occupied by shoppers and was deeply frustrating them, finding it difficult to park their own cars. The new improved car park allows so many spaces, this issue has been thoroughly resolved.
A mother we questioned said that along with many others, the store has helped her and her family off financially. After carrying out price comparisons of co-op and Tesco, Tesco firmly came out on top. They also no longer have the inconvenience of the cost nor travel to get to other stores nor to have to lug their children about. This lady said, "I'm able to leave my kids with my next door neighbour now, as I'm no way near as long as I would be as I would if I went to Asda".
Here is a price comparison which I carried out. I took some essential branded and non-branded items and compared the two.
As it is visible, Tesco on all but one occasion, can produce cheaper goods. This financially helps all. Also Coop lacks some items, for instance; chocolate. I couldn’t compare as they were out of stock.
With this, the store offers Photographic services, along with money services (cash points) which South Wigston as a whole was lacking. It also offers a wider variety of high street names at cheaper prices. The store offers a café too providing a social advantage.
A small social benefit is that the store provides both college students and workers with snacks and lunches; it is also a well known place, with the benches on site, to socialise. The Superstore has decreased the unemployment levels owned by South Wigston. It provides a wide variety of both internal jobs such as assistances, butchers, shelve stackers, etc. and also external such as home deliveries, office workers and truck drivers. The store has also provided part-time/Saturday jobs for the teenagers who are easing into the world of work or need money whilst studying. Tesco’s jobs probably have better pay with more flexible hours with a larger community to get to socialise.
Tesco has improved the landscaping when entering South Wigston from Wigston. Around the store boundaries are trees and plants; this, I think helps with the pollution made with them opening. There are new benches around the centre too making it look modern compared to the previous benches. The centre has also been made more accessible for both push chairs and more disable people with the paving links been put in.
Tesco has also widened the Blaby road. Prior to Tesco opening, there were colossal jams at rush hours. This issue has been slightly resolved, queue times have been decreased. Security features have been introduced with the CCTV in the car park. Another resident said, "The service area means I don't have to go all the way to Wigston to recycle anymore".
The store has also brought:
Tesco has attracted a lot of business, meaning the streets of South Wigston should be busier.
As imaginable, there is going to be a bigger flow of traffic heading through the centre. From this perspective, the shop are benefiting because if there are more people noticing the shops, then probably more business would come their way. On top of which, if Tesco were out of a certain product, or didn’t stock it, the stores on Blaby road may prove useful, again attracting more business.
I also carried out questionnaires to the shops and services.
From what I’ve gathered, the majority of shops and services have implied that they were happy for Tesco to be built. Evidently, Tesco doesn’t seem to be taking away business as much as I thought.
When interviewing Wigston taxis, I was assured that Tesco has benefited them greatly! “The majority of out pick ups and drop offs are actually at the store which is great for us!” With this the owner commented, “it looks so much better that what was originally there.”
Get a picture of Wigston taxis!
A gentleman from Tuchwood estate agents also agreed that the Tesco was a good idea. He thought it was good for regeneration. “It looks much better than the rubbish that was there before.” I also found out that with the store being opened, it has not devalued the price of any of their properties.
I think that because it looks more modern, the centre is liked by more people. If you were to drive or walk though South Wigston before the Tesco was opened, you wouldn’t think much to the place. However, if you saw a modern building, it would be more inviting to stop and have a look.
From the research carried out, I found that a small minority were against the store.
A lot of the residents told me that pollution was their biggest worry. There are so many different ways which Tesco has increased pollution, with the main one being air pollution. With the increased traffic comes jams and queue, where cars will be sitting releasing yet more emissions. They also have the Lorries that deliver goods which are likely to produce more emissions. The CO2 emissions are bad for our health.
The increased traffic also causes noise. It poses a danger risk to all; heavier traffic, road rage; it creates all kinds of dangers such as being run over and even accidents on the road. Journey times have been considerably lengthened due to hold ups and as you can imagine, the roads which lead off of Blaby could be harder to turn off of and on to in the rush hour traffic. Another negative for the residents is the fact that it would take so much longer to get into or out of South Wigston.
I carried out a traffic count at 10:30 on a Thursday morning. In this hour, 110 cars passed through South Wigston, 61 of which went into Tesco, which is quite a big percentage of cars going into Tesco. The car park appeared to be about 40% full at this time.
This graph gives us a better picture of the proportion of cars out of the 110 which passed through, how many actually went in.
The stores lights are kept on, either if the store is opened or closed. This causes light pollution which limits what we see at night (stars etc). There are a lot of lights in the store, creating a hell of a lot of pollution. It could also be a disadvantage to the residents of the flats opposite, especially when the store first opened. It could have affected sleep patterns for some. Some people have to be in complete darkness to be able sleep. The store is a ’24 hour’ store, therefore it could disturb those living opposite at night. Light pollution threatens wildlife by disrupting biological rhythms and otherwise interfering with the behaviour of nocturnal animals. Experts say, “Exposure to light at inappropriate times of the day can lead to conditions such as near-sightedness and sleep deprivation.”
These are examples of severe light pollution, it is a red mist mainly found upon civilised establishments
When the car park is empty, it is the perfect location of youths to ‘hang’, drink, socialise or even vandalise. Youths in gangs easily intimidate adults and youths alike. The car park could also be used to mess about in cars at night, racing and pumping out music, meaning no peace of the residents.
The store offers a lot. There is so much variety which could daunt some older shoppers. An older lady who we spoke to said she hates the store and that it intimidated her when she went in for the first time. She doesn't think it's fair for the other shops in the centre. She said, "The shop is way too big with too much variety, I'm a simpleton. I go in for some milk; I'm faced with about 15 different choices! It's not very good either, I had to ask for someone to help me reach half the things." she also informed us she's never used the store since. The store tries to be aimed at all ages.
Out of the 5 shops we questioned, 2 said that the Tesco superstore shouldn't have been built. The store offers so much and put the smaller shops of South Wigston to shame. With all the business drawn to Tesco itself it proves to be difficult for other shops to get as much business, which makes the centre look down graded due to the lack of shops that are actually there, and the fact that there is such a rapid turn over. With the store offering so much it's hard for there to be any other successful trade.
An example of one business which has seriously suffered is the florist. During the time that I've been doing this coursework, the florist has shut down. The woman said that's she's already been interviewed by our school and that the reason is Tesco taking their business and it's been going on so long now that
This picture shows the competition to the florist.
They produce the same.
A harsh hit is the Coop supermarket. The Coop and Tesco are in total different leagues to each other. With Tesco selling most of the products which the Coop do plus many more, Tesco easily beats the Coop any day. Plus Tesco is the bigger, more known name. On top of all, Tesco's products are cheaper than the Coops. Sadly, the Coop was unable to comment on the situation.
Again looking at the price comparison, It is clear that Tesco are able to produce lower prices, the following graph shows us the ratio clearer (based on the comparison to the left)
To compete with the superstore though, companies may have had to lower their prices, surely meaning that all co-op supermarkets would have to lower their prices, resulting in a dramatic loss in profit for the company. This is the case with many chained stores. South Wigston high street looks very empty since the Tesco superstore opened.
With Tesco Offering such a wide variety of jobs, it may be harder for the services on the street to acquire any employers. Tesco’s jobs probably have better pay with more flexible hours.
I think that the hypothesis that “The new Tesco superstore has had no effect on people living and working in South Wigston” is false.
Effects on land use
The land of which Tesco now occupies once belonged to a hosiery factory called Forsells, which was worn down.
Before the Tesco superstore was built, South Wigston seemed really bland. In the area was the swimming baths, railway, the schools and the industrial factories. When driving through South Wigston, on the North side of Blaby road, there was a huge patch of unused land, which was once a factory is now the site of the superstore.
Prior to Tesco receiving its planning permission, the factory that was once there had been rented to private industries, such as car spray painters etc. who were given three months warning to more relocate their businesses.
In 2003 Tesco was opened. Now on site is a huge superstore equipped with essential weekly, household and luxury items; a café; filling station and recycling services. The store has improved the image of South Wigston with the following:
Before this development, shopping in South Wigston was pretty poor. There wasn't anywhere to buy any popular 'high street names'. Tesco has brought up the shopping aspect of South Wigston. There was nowhere previously to purchase such a wide variety of household items either. Nor any photographic or Money services.
Effects on People living in the area.
I think that there has been a huge effect for these people in many ways.
The main effect is that there is a superstore now local to them, therefore they're not having to spend so much on petrol, nor travelling to other stores.
These are just a few of the effects.
There is definitely more people to the area, making it a busier place to be. It has made the roads a lot more hectic which increases the time for the residents to get back to home or out of South Wigston. And with the queue times and increased traffic come the pollution. However, Tesco have created quite a bit of landscape, possibly tying to counteract the effects of CO2
It must be a pain for the people living in the flats. Again the traffic on an increase, noise ETC. But also with the lights being constantly on, it must be irritating. That would really annoy me. The traffic must have resulted in prolonged journeys. The car park, when empty is liable to be abused by gangs and gangs with cars. This could easily threaten people and families living in the flats.
Effects on people working in the area.
For owners of services, the Tesco I think has affected quite a bit.
Tesco sells similar products which makes business a lot harder for them. On top of which Tesco produce the cheaper prices. The fact that Tesco is where most people go means that the services on Blaby road may not be as frequently used and may have less customers.
With so many jobs at Tesco, finding employees could be harder, affecting the man power of the shops. As Tesco has longer opening hours than other shops in South Wigston, meaning more staff can be employed to share out shifts, also many night shift jobs. The jobs are more active and have flexible hours, therefore appealing to more people. Also they must have a higher wage.
Some businesses have gained business however
This graph shows how many people from our questionnaires actually use Tesco
Therefore I strongly disagree that Tesco has had no effect, as there is a lot of factors which have improved and worsened due to the new store.
For this coursework, as a group, we went into South Wigston in lesson times to carry out different tasks to help us. We mapped out all the shops and services in south Wigston and found out what if offered, such as food, beauty etc. We also carried out questionnaires on both the public and shops. We also took some pictures and did some traffic counts.
The way we did this was alright I think. We've all come out with quite a lot of information; however it's not that accurate.
I think we had a lack of time to collect the relative information to prove anything. I would have liked to have carried out questionnaires to a much wider variety of people (different generations and different genders). I would have liked also to have carried out these questionnaires in different areas to find out how used the store really is.
The traffic counts that I've got can't prove anything. I was able to do two at similar times. They were carried out for only 10 minutes each, the amount of cars driving through South Wigston was counted as well as how many of these actually turned into the Tesco car park. It would have been better to carry out these counts at different times, especially at rush hours and 'shopping hours'. This would prove a lot more. I would also have liked to have some figures of traffic counts before the Tesco store opened to have something to compare.
Mapping out the shops proved to be quite difficult. On some occasions it was hard to tell if some outlets were vacant, shops or houses. To find the changes wasn’t that accurate either. Thinking about it, I had a list of shops sometime in 2003, and a list from 2008, there must have been more changed between these times which means more could have been proved if I had every changed.