Traders unite against arrival of Sainsbury’s

Independent traders in Bruntsfield have launched a campaign to stop Sainsbury’s moving into the former Peckham’s deli.

The supermarket chain is due to open a Local store there. Traders have put petitions in shops and posters in windows to try and persuade the property’s owner to lease the shop to someone else, fearing it will put smaller shops out of business and change the character of the area.

Karen Mackay, who runs children’s clothes store Nippers on Bruntsfield Place, said: “We’ve managed to keep it what is effectively now the only independent shopping area in the whole of Edinburgh that’s not full of multinationals. Once they arrive, your little grocer’s shop closes down, your fishmonger, your local newsagent.”

Ibrahim Joulak, who runs Bruntsfield Post Office added: “Sainsbury’s might employ 10 people but will make another 50 redundant from other businesses.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We do from time to time get concern from local traders, but as we saw in Stockbridge, once the store opens it doesn’t have any adverse impact on local trade.”