The Penicuik Cuckoo

Top Menu

  • About Us
  • Join Us
  • Got a Story?
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Homepage
  • News
  • Notices
  • Comment
  • Life & Property
  • Sport
  • Event Features
  • About Us
  • Join Us
  • Got a Story?
  • Contact Us

logo

The Penicuik Cuckoo

  • Homepage
  • News
  • Notices
  • Comment
  • Life & Property
  • Sport
  • Event Features
  • Mauricewood Roundabout Works Begin

  • Police Concerned for Woman’s Welfare

  • Armed Robbery at Penicuik Newsagents

Breaking News: Mauricewood Road Reopening Delayed Till April 30

News
Home›News›Does Tesco Penicuik Face Closure?

Does Tesco Penicuik Face Closure?

Supermarket chain to close 43 stores across the UK

By Thomas Scott
January 10, 2015
636
0

Ailing supermarket chain, Tesco, is to close 43 unprofitable stores, leading shoppers to ask, will our store be one of them?

Penicuik has been home to a Tesco Superstore since 2002, when the Scotmid Co-operative’s Edinburgh Road branch was acquired by the rapidly expanding chain.

Since then, the store has been extended and renovated, offering the community a wide array of products within five to ten minutes walk of their house. However the branch has also scaled back since it’s inauguration, having removed a customer cafe and a small Post Office Branch. It has also had to withstand fierce competition from new competitors Lidl and Asda, both of who opened new stores in the A701 corridor, pulling customers further from the branch, with promises of lower prices.

Despite this, Tesco’s Penicuik store amasses around £19m in sales every year. This figure is, however, somewhat lower than that calculated in 2006. A retail study, undertaken in 2006, showed that the store took 63% of convenience spending but six years later it had dropped to 48%. Extrapolating this on the same downward trajectory, the store’s convenience share would stand at 41.5% today.

New developments at Straiton, and the rise in number of shoppers using discount retailers, has led to Tesco Penicuik consolidating it’s offering. One such example is the provision of a small area for electrical and homeware goods, a move aimed to keep shoppers away from high street retailers in Straiton Retail Park.

Whilst taking in £19m in annual sales, the store is only used by 53% of local shoppers for their main shop. Unlike every other supermarket in the county, the Penicuik branch also fails to attract customers from out-with the town’s boundaries; only 4% of Roslin residents shop in Tesco along with a further 1.4% in Loanhead. This failure to attract customers from further afield, and a marked annual decline in convenience percentage share, may be taking its toll on the balance books.

A plan is in place to garner potential customers, after planning permission was granted to erect a drive-through click and collect facility in the car park. This will allow internet shoppers to collect their weekly shop, rather than have it delivered to their home.

Tesco is currently undertaking a period of consultation with the affected stores. A spokesperson said:

We have taken the difficult decision to close 43 of our stores.

Our first priority is to consult colleagues who are impacted by these changes and we will be speaking to them over the coming weeks.

Permission for an Aldi supermarket, neighbouring the current Tesco superstore, has now lapsed. The retailer confirmed they would no longer be seeking to open in the town, though they are actively seeking other opportunities in Midlothian.

What’s your view? Let us know below or join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter.

[Source: RDPC Midlothian Retail Study 2012]

TagsPenicuikRetail
Previous Article

Campaigners Serve Up Survival Plea

Next Article

Defiant YMCA Continues Funding Push

Thomas Scott

Editor and founder of The Penicuik Cuckoo. Fourth year Architecture student (MA Hons) at Edinburgh University currently writing on the role of architecture in post-industrial towns. Interested in all things Penicuik. Triplet.

Timeline

  • January 12, 2018

    Mauricewood Roundabout Works Begin

  • January 11, 2018

    Thank You Adam

  • October 15, 2017

    Police Concerned for Woman’s Welfare

  • October 9, 2017

    Armed Robbery at Penicuik Newsagents

  • October 8, 2017

    New Openings and Expansion at Straiton

Advert

  • Terms of Use
  • Comment Policy
  • Cookies
  • Our Publications
© The Penicuik Cuckoo, 2017