Sue Gyford: Big names plan urban warfare in the battle for our custom

IT'S a cri de coeur made famous by The League of Gentlemen – "Local shops for local people". The surreal sitcom might have mocked it, but the sentiment is heard with increasing intensity from the high streets of Edinburgh's urban villages.

After years of focusing on the construction out of town superstores, supermarket chains are now looking to local, 'metro'-style stores for their expansion, and in many cases, the independents are alarmed.

Sainsbury's is the latest to announce a specific policy of hitting the high streets, with the aim of opening 150 of its Local branded stores across the UK by March 2011.

The chain has identified Edinburgh as a target area and hopes to open 10 to 12 of its high street shops in the capital within three years.

It is a trend familiar in the US, where neighbourhoods are increasingly passing planning bye-laws which limit the number of chain stores or franchises which can be set up within a given geographical area – or even ban them all together.

The news of Sainsbury's expansion plans has raised well-rehearsed objections from many local traders, afraid that the chains' buying power to will put independent competitors out of business.

In Stockbridge, a high-profile local campaign to stop Sainsbury's taking over the former Woolworths store halted when Scotmid beat its rival to the property – only for Sainsbury's to announce it would open in a neighbouring store later this year.

Sainsbury's claims protestors' fears are unfounded. The firm's head of property (convenience), Stephen Boyce, says its Local stores should benefit communities by encouraging shoppers to stay on the high street instead of going to out of town superstores.

He said: "It is in our interests to be part of a thriving local community and our experience highlights that a small Sainsbury's in a high street location can have many benefits. For example, the recent opening of a Local store in Corstorphine has been a welcome addition to the area, providing positive additions to the local community.

"Sainsbury's stores are not formulaic, with every store designed with local conditions in mind. In many areas we tailor what we offer in our Local stores to ensure we are sensitive to other traders and complement, rather than compete, with them."

It seems people in Corstorphine would agree. Secretary of the Corstorphine Community Council, Kenneth Swinney, said: "I think that's a fair argument. I'm not aware of anyone having closed as a result, and at the moment, as far as we're concerned we've had no comments or complaints from any traders.

"The Sainsbury's is not keeping a large selection, it's just the run of the mill stuff, but I think it's helping to encourage people to shop locally. Also, it's quite an elderly area, and a lot of people don't want to go down to Meadow Place Road to Tesco, which in our opinion is too big."

In other parts of the city the situation is more complex. The arrival of a Tesco Metro in Bruntsfield in 2006 was met with the usual fears. Four years on, among the businesses lost to Bruntsfield Place are Avi Newsagents, which also sold groceries, Central Fruit Shop and wholefood grocer Natural Oasis.

It's hard to argue that the shopping scene in Bruntsfield is struggling overall. New businesses open on a regular basis, though the area is dominated by coffee and gift shops, and clothing boutiques. Food retailers are more likely to be specialists than general grocers.

Among them is butcher William Christie, whose business has stood on the street for 120 years. He says that high-end food retailers haven't noticed a huge impact: "The students shop at Tesco, but we're quite high quality, so it doesn't really affect us. I think that's the same for a lot of Bruntsfield, it's bound to affect people like the newsagents, and sandwich shops – everyone goes to Tesco now – but I don't think it's as bad as people expected."

Professor Leigh Sparks, director of the Centre for the Study of Retailing in Scotland, thinks the impact of high street supermarkets will depend on the nature of each high street. Where there are a large number of stores in direct competition with the supermarkets, they could struggle. In other areas the arrival of a new supermarket could be a shot in the arm.

He said: "I don't think there's an awful lot of evidence one way or the other at the moment, because it's not an area that's been really researched, because these have sprung up so quickly. There is a general trend that consumers are looking to shop locally if they can, and I suspect that the 'local' is more important for many consumers than the nature or type of shops that they have.

"If you look at many smaller high streets around Scotland, it's clear that many of them are not in great shape, so anything that comes in and invests in that area helps. The fear, of course is that if you put multiple retailers into a high street than you destroy some of the diversity."

Professor Sparks says: "There is a nostalgia for a high street of the past, but whilst there is a sense that we'd love the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, people do often think 'If I can get them under one roof perhaps we'll go there' – it's more convenient and perhaps more familiar. If it wasn't working, retailers wouldn't be putting a lot of money into localisation."