One area of the economy that appears to have remained relatively
buoyant during the downturn is the development of new supermarket
facilities in Scotland. This appears to be partly a phenomenon of
existing operators seeking to protect (or even increase) market
share with a number of new or less established operators (such as
Lidl and Waitrose) trying to make inroads into Scotland. The
development of new facilities has taken place not just in the
larger conurbations within Scotland but in smaller towns which can
only support a limited number (sometimes one) sizeable convenience
food outlet.
There have been (and remain) significant concerns about the
impact of reasonable sized convenience food retail outlets on the
"High Street" (particularly if they contain an element of
comparison shopping – hardware etc) even if they are
situated in the town centre (and frequently they are not
– see below). In England the review carried out by Mary
Portas highlighted these concerns.
