Should Britain’s big retailers really be looking to France for inspiration?
SIR – I read Deborah Robertson’s article in praise of the French hypermarchés (Living, July 3) with some puzzlement.
Having lived in France for some 30 years, I have never experienced the joie de vivre that she describes. Most of the chains are franchises.
The Carrefour in Avranches is near me. As it is by the sea, prices have a tendency to rise with the influx of tourists in holiday season. Shopping in France is very expensive anyway and the quality of the products – especially meat and vegetables – can be awful.
My dream is to retire to a little two-up two-down next to the deli in Morrisons. Alex Telford
St-jean-le-thomas, Normandy, France
SIR – Visiting the hypermarchés is one of the pleasures of having a holiday in France. We buy cassoulet, confit de canard, superior crisps and pâtés. We also stock up on packet soups, Prince biscuits and the delicious honey.
The lettuces, tomatoes and cucumbers are all without plastic packaging, and the vegetables have mud on them. Sally Durham
York
SIR – I am a chartered surveyor with 28 years’ experience in agreeing deals for retailers and landlords in high streets and in shopping centres throughout Britain.
The current market is undoubtedly pretty grim. At every turn, the planning system has conspired against innovation and entrepreneurship.
Through my MP, I was able to meet the minister in charge of planning before Christmas to talk about a new client who has been thwarted by the system. This meeting was one of the most dispiriting 45 minutes of my career. The Government and the department responsible for planning appear to have no real understanding of how the public now shop and seem unaware that legislation that is over 30 years old is not fit for purpose. Charles Palmer
Steventon, Hampshire
SIR – Nigel Legg (Letters, July 4) implies that online-only businesses have no advantage over high-street shops because they too pay rates, National Insurance contributions and other normal business expenses.
He omits the most obvious advantage for online-only businesses, which is that they’re not in the high street.
My small chain of specialist photographic shops operates from a head office and warehouse on an industrial estate outside Preston. The rent for my retail shop, just a couple of miles away in Preston town centre, is double the cost of our warehouse, despite being a fraction of the size. Frank Wilkinson Bamber Bridge, Lancashire
SIR – Big stores could become more user-friendly by adding a few seats.
Being elderly I can no longer stand for long, while my wife works her way through racks of clothes. The result is that we do not linger for as long as the store management would perhaps like. Terence Lillicrap
Plymouth, Devon
SIR – Without any high streets, people stay at home, order online and miss out on the social aspect of visiting shops. They can then become lonely – and we now know that loneliness can be as bad for well-being as illness. Judith Barnes
St Ives, Huntingdonshire