ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SMALL SHOPS AND DEPARTAMENT STORES OR SUPERMARKETS

• Are Small Shops Being Elbowed Out by The Big Supermarkets?
• The Changing Face of Shopping. High Streets and Shops disappear
• Growth of the “Big Four Supermarkets”
• Community Impacts of Supermarkets

WHERE IS IT BETTER TO DO THE SHOPPING- IN SUPERMARKETS OR IN SMALL SHOPS? 

It is very difficult to say definitely, which place is better to do the shopping. There are many good and bad points of both- supermarkets and corner shops.

The staff in corner shops is usually very nice. People, who sell in these shops know most of their customers. They may advice you what to buy, they know what your favourite products are. If it happens that you don't have enough money to buy something, they may let you pay later. You can always talk to the staff and you can be sure that you buy fresh products. Nevertheless, if you want to buy something in secret, you shouldn't do it in the small shop next to your house. The shop assistant may tell your parents, that you bought a beer or cigarettes. Another disadvantage is that there is not as much wide variety of different products there as there is in supermarkets. If you have some special needs and wishes, you’d better go to supermarket to look for it.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SUPERMARKETS? 

It is hard to say which kind of shop is better. Both a corner shop and a supermarket have many advantages and disadvantages. 

The corner shop is generally small and has friendly staff. Because it is not as big, you cannot find sophisticated products as you can find in a supermarket. The staff usually knows you very well. They know what your favourite products are, they can put aside things that you want to buy if you do not have enough money. It is very nice and useful. But on the other hand it is very hard to keep something in secret. For example it is really difficult to buy beer, cigarettes or condoms without the shop assistant telling your mother or gossip about you. 

The supermarket is bigger than the corner shop and is better equipped. More people go to this kind of shop. Everybody is anonymous for the shop assistant and generally prices are lower. The competition of supermarkets is very good for customer. But despite these advantages the supermarket has also got few disadvantages. A lot of products are not fresh. They are displayed on the shelves waiting for a customer to get them and sometimes they are there for a very long time and past the sell-by date. 

To sum up, both supermarkets and corner shops have many advantages and disadvantages. I choose one or the other depending on the kind of product I want to buy.

THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DEPARTAMENTAL STORES 

Advantages

The various advantages of a departmental store are:

i. The customer is spared from the botheration of going to different places to get his desired articles as most of are found in a departmental store.

ii. Since the departmental store goes for huge purchases, it avails a good number of trade discounts which help to reduce the selling price of the products. (the selling price per unit becomes very low because of large volume of sales).

iii. They ensure the quality of products and have a wide variety to choose from. 

iv. A departmental store can afford to advertise on large scale and thereby attracts a large number of customers.

v. A departmental store can afford to employ specialists which provide expert knowledge on various functions.

Disadvantages

A departmental store suffers from the following disadvantages:

i. People living at a distant place cannot avail the advantages of departmental store because these are located in the cities.

ii. The cost of running the departmental store is higher because of certain free services which they give. The cost of free services is high and therefore it increases the prices of the product.

iii. The cost of advertisement and publicity is much higher.

iv. Customers are not given individual attention because these establishments are too large.

ADVANTAGES OF DEPARTMENT STORES

For a lot of people shopping is a chore, something tedious, like housework. For others, shopping is fun and relaxing, a release from the world of work. But the question is Where should we do the shopping ? In a department store or in a small corner shop. There are advantages and disadvantages of both types of shops.

Nowadays it is hard to imagine our life without shopping at department stores. From the moment shoppers step out of their cars or off the bus that has brought them to the department store, they are encouraged to feel relaxed. Soft music is everywhere, security cameras monitor every inch of the store. And everywhere is so clean, including the air within the giant building which is continuously renewed by tireless air-conditioning systems.

One of the basic reasons for the popularity of department stores is the enormous variety of shops that are to be found under one vast roof.

There are several major departments and supermarkets. An equally important part of the department store is smaller shops and boutiques, whose glistening displays invite shoppers. Inside there everyone can find books, expensive china, designer clothes, casual wear. A typical supermarket has separate sections for such products as meat, fruit and vegetables, biscuits and cakes canned food, tea and coffee, soft drinks, washing powder. Most goods in supermarkets are pre-packed, weighed and priced before they are put on the display. Supermarkets provide convenient and speedy shopping.

Non-stop shopping can be tiring, but there are a lot of other things to do in dep. stores as well. Many people come to eat and drink as much as to shop as there are a lot of coffee bars, wine bars and restaurants where people can sit and chat with their fellow shoppers.

It is a fact that children hate being dragged round shops, and here surely is another reason for the increasing popularity of dep. stores. Their designers make sure that children are certainly not forgotten. Adventure rides, animal exhibits, cinemas or skate rings are just examples of the entertainment provided by stores.

Of course, these facilities exist for one basic reason: to make shoppers need some extra cash for few unplanned items when the store offers bargains. For large purchase customers may use credit cards.

So it seems that a department store is a wonderful fantasy land for adults and children. It is somewhere we can go to if we want to get away from a miserable, wet winter or the uncomfortable heat of summer.

It is needless to mention that many people still prefer to do the shopping in traditional shops.

ADVANTAGES OF SUPERMARKETS

Let's be honest, life without supermarkets would be hell. Thanks to their existence, what used to take all day now takes a couple of hours. Thirty years ago, by the time you had walked up and down the high street, visited a host of stores, queued at counters and checkouts and then trekked back home with as many bags as you could carry, the day was more or less over. And stores only opened nine to five.

Now, responding to consumer demand, supermarkets operate extended opening hours and trade on Sundays. The number of lines stocked has also increased out of all recognition. Supermarkets now offer the choice of up to 40,000 lines - everything from economy to niche products at very competitive prices; they provide free car-parking and a number of other facilities such as financial services. They also sell a superb range of own labels, and offer home deliveries and internet shopping.

Generally, none of us has to drive too far to get to the supermarket: we find them out-of-town or on the high street. A number of retailers are looking at even more convenient outlets in railway stations. Thirty years ago, customers would have given their right hand to shop in these sort of outlets, which we now take for granted.

AGAINST SUPERMARKETS

Most people who can, choose to shop in supermarkets for many different reasons. Society now depends on them. They are here to stay. 

But the argument has to move on. The country is saturated with superstores. Now is the time to count the cost of this convenience. The forces driving the supermarkets to ever-fiercer competition and increasing vertical concentration can also increase social deprivation and destroy the enabling structure of our local food economies which sustain our market towns and villages, the food producers who supply them and the people who depend on them.

Remember that there are consumers who exist beyond the rosy glow of the supermarket - those who have no car, who are not on the internet, who live in a cash economy, whose shopping budgets are too small to qualify for home deliveries, who need their local shop for social contact and conversation. And don't forget the local food producers. Virtually all food production starts small-scale and depends on small retail outlets.

In east Suffolk, following the threat of a superstore, I surveyed 81 food shops and discovered they were sourcing food from 295 local producers. When superstores open, small shops close. Small shops, farms and food businesses are interdependent, providing employment and consumer choice. They are the basis of the rural economy. The way forward is to ensure we have the framework in place that enables the supermarkets to co-exist with the parallel integrated local economy, rather than compete with it until it is destroyed.