BOYCOTT YOUR LOCAL CO-OP: Co-Op to put single mums out of business

[MrsCuckoo]

I live in Cuckfield, a small Sussex village which is currently in turmoil.

The Co-Op, who already have a shop at one end of Cuckfield, intend to open a new, much bigger branch at the opposite end on a site which until this summer was a 200 year-old pub, The Ship.

What has really upset us locals is that the pub sits immediately next to a small village shop and sub post office, Wealdon Stores, which is run by a pair of hard-working single mums who live above the shop with their children. They make a modest living by working hard and supporting their families.

They sell all the usual, newspapers, basic groceries, a smattering of stationery and they do their best to stock local produce and their shop is always full of local chatter and gossip. Totally unlike the homogenised, sanitised CO-OP, which churns out nothing remotely locally produced or thoughtfully sourced.

The new shop being planned by the self-styled "ethical" CO-OP (as their new ad campaign goes to great lengths to emphasize), will put the shop and these ladies (Dawn and Janine), out of business within months, so that, along with their business, they also risk losing their home.

We have had no response from the CO-OP on the matter of what would happen to them, presumably because they couldn't give a damn about destroying their little shop and pulling the plug on their livelihood.
CO-OP representatives even had the gall to describe Wealden Stores as a health store in their application meeting with the parish council, thereby suggesting that there would be no conflict in business.
It would appear that there are no depths which CO-OP representatives will not plunder in order to get their new shop opened.
What complete nonsense and sheer hypocrisy.

The time has come for DIRECT ACTION.

    <strong>*</strong><strong>*</strong><strong>*BOYCOTT YOUR LOCAL CO-OP</strong><strong>*</strong><strong>*</strong>

Here's a video made by local celeb Christian Stephenson, aka DJ-BBQ, (from Jamie Oliver's programme), which explains the situation very succinctly:

If you have the time, please sign our petition:

www.change.org/p/mid-sussex-district-council-issue-an-immediate-article-4-direction-on-the-ship-inn-cuckfield

Please support us, sign and BOYCOTT YOUR LOCAL CO-OP in protest.

If you have the time, contact Steve Murrells of the Co-Op and register your feelings:

[email protected]

I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. He hasn't had the manners to reply to me, perhaps a slew of e-mails from other Mumsnetters will inspire him to be more courteous.

The problem with the situation in Cuckfield is not just that the "ethical" Coop is opening next to a small independent but also that it is on a mini roundabout and there is nowhere for the deliveries to park. They therefore choose to park on the pavement thus making it difficult and dangerous for my children to walk to school. One delivery told me I was being rude when I pointed out that he should not park on the pavement. His point was that there was nowhere else for him to park because of all the lorries. OUR POINT EXACTLY!

The other issue is that the Coop is closing the shop in the village thus leaving a community with no convenience store. What is that going to do to the village? Up until this point I have not been anti Coop but everyday I come out of my house and see lorries parked all over the roundabout and it will only get worse when the shop opens. I am sick of tired of the senior management of Coop telling me that they are "enhancing my shopping experience"!

You need to tell your local PCSO about the parking problems. They are the ones who can do something about that.

As for a boycott - no. Our Co op employs local people and provides a good service. Convenient, cheap and good quality. They don't owe anything to local businesses, who should be prepared for the eventuality of larger chains moving into the area.

It's a local problem, and the village has a large number of educated, eloquent people who are very able to put together a case against.
The miniroundabout will cause a problem if the Co-Op don't adhere strictly to parking laws as it's part of the back road to Crawley and many commuters use that route. So if they do open their shop, there ought to be a neighbourhood watch of residents observing and ready to report and complain and leaflet cars and be a PITA.
You need to put your passion into campaigning locally and getting villagers to use the current shop actively, instead of the new co-op. To use any and all legal means at their disposal.
And the bus service may be poor, but the nearest large town is two miles away and is a flat walk for most of it. Pity you lot turned down the railway as too common and disruptive back in the day.

So it's on a roundabout with no parking but it's taking passing business from the local bitch hive. Oh please. I notice the cuckoo cp op promoter hasn't been back.

The shop isn't a bitchhive at all, nor is the village the narrow-minded and unpleasant place you are somehow assuming it to be, mymum.
Where on earth are your wild assumptions coming from? Do you live in such a village?

Near us there was a similar campaign when Sainsbury opened a convenience store in a twee area with some similar small shops. Articulate locals mounted a campaign ' will put Mr X out of business who has been there 40 years etc' , told Sainsbos no-one would shop there even if they did open - all would boycott it.
Sainsbos opened, those smug campaigners did not boycott it...
Mr X shop is also still there.
If the Cuckfield locals care, no-one will shop in the new co-op.
If they don't, as others have said, no much point people on here in eg Cornwall boycotting their much needed local employer.

Agree with hesterton. Your friends need to start thinking about what the village doesn't have and diversify.
I do sympathize, I'm a single parent and used to run a coffee shop, then Costa set up Shop next door. I got some new equipment and turned part of my business into a juice bar, changed the layout to allow for more seating and started offering homecooked meals rather than standard panini type fayre.
If I were them I would start doing a bit of market research, now, and find out what people actually want.

I'm sorry, but coop are not ethical in their business practice. They pay less than the cost of production for milk, and any local produce they do sell is often purchased at a price far lower than that offered by local independents, offering less profit to those artisan food makers.
More importantly do I want to support a business that will callously treat producers of essential items, whilst masquerading as an ethical business because they stock a couple regional cheeses and locally baked biscuits?
Mrscuckoo you might want to tweet live shop local they will help you raise the profile of your petition

Dear mymum, the shop is not a bitch hive but a local shop.

Thank you Mamafrogblogs, I will.
In addition to what you say in your post, I would like to repeat what other posters have said.

The Co-op currently have a shop at the other end of the village which, when they move, will leave everyone down there with no convenience store. This is going to kill our village and hit everyone very hard, particularly the small independent retailers down there who rely on Co-Op footfall to bring customers in.

So much for ethics and care for the local community.

You say there is limited parking so presumably it is local people who use the shop - why can't they continue to do so?

Just googling the Ship Inn - it has parking to the side. It would make more sense for the co-op to unload goods there (at the back of the store) rather than bring them in the front door so they are unlikely to park on the mini roundabout.

It seems the real issue is that the local shop won't benefit from additional passing trade or are they worried that people who park in the Ship Inn's car park and nip in won't be able to do so if the Co-op owns the carpark. If this is the case any development of the site that restricts parking will damage their business. Do you propose to object to any use for the car park?

Calm down, it won't kill your village.
You have a large, active community, a thriving primary school rated OFSTED good, a definite identity despite the fact that many of the working population commute.
Loads of villagers do online shopping from Sainsbury's and Ocardo and Abel and Cole if all the delivery lorries are anything to go by. I agree with the campaign to preserve Wealden stores, byt excessive hyperbole won't help.

What I have heard from my business coaches, is that in every downfall there is a silver lining. I know that these wonderful ladies offer certain type of products, but the solution is: If they can still keep their premises, then they should align their service with the products the co-op offers, and better them, or offer something that co-op doesn't have. I wold sincerely ask them to get a business coach, as who can stop the co-op? Good Luck!