Postbag: Greenfield Sweet Shop Closes

The cutting of the cake at the opening of Tesco Greenfield in December. One other local retailer certainly isn't celebrating.

There’s been a huge response both on this website and on the Saddleworth News Facebook page (which is here) to last week’s article about the closure of Julie’s Sweet Shop in Greenfield.

You can read the original article here. Julie has given up after 23 years running the business, blaming the new Tesco for taking customers away from the centre of the village.

A Tesco spokesman denied the supermarket was a factor, pointing out that it sells few traditional sweets so was not competiting directly with Julie. The spokesman also said that Tesco can bring more shoppers to an area, allowing other businesses to thrive if they offer the right goods at the right prices.

The whole issue certainly divided opinion among Saddleworth News readers.

Freya Sykes, who runs the Ella Riley’s sweet shop in Holmfirth, wrote: “Julie will know as well as we do that it’s nigh on impossible to compete on price with supermarkets as they have buying power that far outstrips even the large warehouses’ bulk buying power that we buy our stock from.”

She added: “It comes to something when I (and no doubt Julie will have had this too) have to make a decision as to which sweets I take into stock to sell at a loss as the supermaket up the road is selling it at less on a retail price than I can get it at the warehouse! I even ended up buying stock at Tesco for our Christmas shelves – things such as Terry’s Chocolate Oranges – and putting a small margin on them, as it was cheaper to do that than buy it at the warehouse for “trade” prices.”

Geoff Frost commented: “This is very sad and I will miss her and her shop. However, I doubt whether the main reason can be blamed on Tesco which has only been open for just over a month – hardly long enough to make a dent in sales to that degree, also Tesco don’t sell many of the products that Julie has in stock. Indeed next door is a newsagent which sells many competing sweets and chocolate bar products and that shop seems to be doing okay.”

Chris said: “Most of the shops in Greenfield have ridiculous prices to be honest. They’ve also had a monopoly for some time. If they won’t lower prices then they’ll go under. Thats just a fact. It’s called competition.”

Lizzie Mirza wrote: “My kids will be devastated. When the weather is fine and we go to the park we always have to go to Julie’s for sweets or lollies and she is so lovely and patient with us all young and old.”

Andy commented: “Tesco hardly has a vast array of sweets on offer does it? I think the Tesco is good, it’s annoying having to go all the way into Oldham to get the weekly shop. It’s helped young people around the area between 16-20 get a job, meaning less people on job seekers allowance!”

Mick Ashworth called for shoppers to take action: “Sorry to see Julie’s go: it’s a lovely shop run by a lovely lady. Boycott Tesco before all the other shops go the same way! Or just stand by and watch them go under.”

To read more articles from Saddleworth News about the new Tesco, click here.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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