Shop closure: 'Those retail behemoths keep sprouting up'

THE closure of Crolla's shop later this month will be a sad day, and not just for local customers in Newhaven.

Its loss will be symptomatic of a much wider casualty list of corner and high street shops which have fallen victim to changes in both demand and supply – from butchers to bakers, fishmongers to newsagents.

The problem with demand is easy to explain. Customers increasingly want to do as much of their shopping as possible under one roof, especially now supermarkets sell everything from clothes to electrical goods and DVDs.

The temptation to bypass the independent retailer who served parents, and sometimes grandparents, is obvious when there is the lure of cut-price deals and loss leaders, all heavily- marketed by big supermarket chains.

In terms of supply, those retail behemoths just keep on sprouting up in every part of the Lothians. On one hand there are the massive out-of-town hangars with free parking; on the other the increasing number of "metro" style urban outlets.

Between them, they are undoubtedly squeezing out local suppliers such as Mark Crolla. His shop is closing after 115 years, and just months after his grateful customers helped him win the Best Local Shop category in the Evening News Community Awards.

The supermarkets are just meeting market needs, and as long as shoppers favour them there may not be a lot that can be done to save their one-off little cousins.

Councils should remember their plight when considering supermarket planning applications. Every time a local shop shuts, the community it serves gets that little bit weaker.

School swap sense

THE plan to swap the campuses of Broomhouse Primary with St Joseph's RC Primary on the face of it seems a novel solution to a pressing problem.

The non-denominational school has a falling roll, while St Joseph's is growing in popularity, to the point where it has 40 per cent more pupils than its partner school.

The transfer will involve more than moving a few religious symbols from one set of buildings to an other though, and the council must respect the sensitivities on both sides.

There will be some strong objections, especially as the larger school has better facilities, but at least they will be less likely to be based on outdated sectarian divides than might have been the case in the past – or indeed might still be around in other parts of Scotland.