Oxfordshire News
Store wars after Tesco opens
12:00pm Wednesday 1st February 2012
A couple who run a corner shop are suffering a worrying sense of deja vu now Tesco has moved into a neighbouring former pub.
Sritharan and Rahini Vairamuttu, who own the Best-One convenience store in Oxford Road, Abingdon, said they had to close a shop in Highgate, London, just months after a Tesco Express opened three doors down.
Now, after suffering a 40 per cent fall in takings less than two weeks after the supermarket giant opened in the former Ox pub, they said they may be forced to shut another business.
The couple took over running Best-One a year ago, but believe it is impossible to compete against the supermarket chain.
Mr Vairamuttu said: “I feel really disgusted. We are trying to keep surviving. Normally we would have a customer every five to 10 minutes, now we have to wait half an hour.”
The 42-year-old father-of-two, from Woodstock, said he would give the business three or four months before making a decision on whether to shut.
He closed his store in Highgate in 2004, two months after a Tesco Express opened three doors down.
He invested £60,000 in the Abingdon store before it opened a year ago.
His wife Rahani added: “It is not fair. But we have to fight with them.”
Tesco spokesman Simon Petar said the new store had created 24 jobs in the town.
He added: “We are proud to be serving the local community, providing additional choice and value. We are very pleased with the response from customers.”
When Tesco announced plans to turn the pub into an Express store last July more than 200 residents signed a petition against the bid.
Planning permission is not needed to convert a pub into a shop.
Paul Townsend, president of Abingdon Chamber of Commerce, said: “It is a real shame that a company like Tesco can just walk in and do what they want and put somebody else completely out of business. He (Mr Vairamuttu) has done a fantastic job on that shop.”
Abingdon Town Council member Angela Lawrence said many councillors and residents had concerns over the increase in traffic the new Tesco would bring. She is now campaigning to change planning law to make council approval essential.
She said: “It’s not to say pubs should not be turned into shops, but we should have a say locally.”
Tesco also has a supermarket in Marcham Road and another Express store in the old Fitzharris Arms pub in Thornhill Walk, off Wootton Road.