Pasty chain to open in Le Pollet
Tuesday 16th June 2009, 2:30PM BST.
BAKERY cafe chain Pasty Presto is coming to Guernsey.
Sandpiper CI will manage the brand in the Channel Islands. Chief executive Tony O’Neill said last month that a ‘well-known product offering’ would be taking over the former Poundworld shop at 7, Le Pollet.
Pasty Presto will open in August and employ six staff, with the intention of more stores being opened in Guernsey and Jersey when other locations are acquired.
Its cafe will offer a wide range of food and drink, including its famous Cornish pasties and where possible use organic, free range and Fairtrade ingredients.
Mr O’Neill said Sandpiper was delighted to have signed an agreement with Pasty Presto.
‘This is a high quality operation and all products will be sourced from its traditional Cornish base.
‘For the first time, residents will be able to enjoy a range of authentic quality pastry and pasty products.
‘The opening of this shop also reflects Sandpiper’s determination to play our part in ensuring St Peter Port remains the jewel in Guernsey’s retail crown.’
Pasty Presto founder Steve Grocutt said the firm was delighted to be working with Sandpiper because of its in-depth knowledge of the local marketplace.
‘We have been looking at this market for some time and are very pleased we’re opening our first store in the Channel Islands.’
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My how Sandpiper CI havent listened to the punter/ island… another place that sells pasties, pastries, coffee and so on. Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t we have a number of locally run businesses in town offering this service and more? Woodies, Victor Hugo, molly’s (excuse my spelling of that one) to name but a few? Can Sandpiper not think of something original and something we need? i predict a riot…
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Oh, and as for it being a well known product, never heard of it!
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Oh no. How terribly common, a pasty shop.
More awful greasy food wrappers thrown on our lovely cobbled streets no doubt.
If it HAS to be a chain then why not open a Carluccio’s instead???
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“Pasty Presto founder Steve Grocutt said the firm was delighted to be working with Sandpiper because of its in-depth knowledge of the local marketplace”.
These guys only bought out Le Riche 5 minutes ago and now they are experts on CI shopping needs? I might have agreed with this self seeking statement if the cafe was doing Cheese and Chips or Ormer butties!
Poundworld was hardly a jewel in the retail crown but I doubt a pie shop is going to elevate town too much, especially when Leale’s Yard starts up.
Another safe, risk free and unimaginative waste of an opportunity as accountants continue to take over the world!
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I have come to the conclusion that we are a bunch of whingers – never happy about anything! This pasty shop will bring jobs to the island and prevent another empty shop in town staying empty.
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From a good friend of mine who lives in Cornwall:
“They’re not terribly authentic – more gucci than pasty.”
Will that not do for you Mrs P – a posh pasty?
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“for the first time residents will be able to enjoy a range of authentic pasty products”.
Err, excuse me, what then would you call the pasties that Senners have been more than sucessfully selling since I was a child 30 yrs ago.
This will be an inferior product, I’ll give it 6 mths until the shop closes.
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Concur with all the above statements ( though i THINK i may have stumbled in to one in Portsmouth once a little jaded from the night before,seen the prices and staggered out again fairly Presto..)
Guernsey as an island has generally done quite well at chasing out the UK food brands it doesn’t like… Pizza Express…Burger King anyone..so i wait with baited breather to see if this one ( and Costa for that matter) stand the test of time.
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‘This is a high quality operation and all products will be sourced from its traditional Cornish base’
Pasties made in a factory in Cornwall, but where are the ingredients sourced from?
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No no no no no!! According to reviews and their own website, their products are overpriced, not that good, and NEARLY all ingredients are locally sourced.
Surely we don’t need this type of shop in our premier shopping area? Vote with your feet people, as was the case with Pizza Express and Burger King, we don’t want to eat this rubbish!!
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Typical Guernsey residents. Whatever anyone tries to do the ‘knockers’ then come out of the woodwork. I agree with Merlin – why whinge when it means new jobs, a new experience and another shop occupied at last.
I loved Pound shop – well it has gone, I loved Burger King – and it has gone, Pizza Express has gone! There now seems a determined effort, before it has even got going to make sure that this new venture fails!
Good luck to Pasty Presto and I just hope you have the stamina to keep going whilst all around you whinge and complain. Good luck to you in your endeavours Pasty Presto. Ge.
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Oh purleeze! Pasties? Is Tony O’neil nuts? (judging by his mangement appointments that may actually be true!). I thought we were “all” being extolled to reduce our fat intake and to eat more healthily! Wrong shop, wrong place. Why do they keep on putting in places like this that obviously cannot benefit from passing trade, that have no parking for people who want to “pop in”. Now a “Pizza Hut”, maybe in the old Salarie Pub or along the “Kev” run – they’d need an armoured van to take the cash away in!
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Merlin you never wrote truer words
“I have come to the conclusion that we are a bunch of whingers – never happy about anything! This pasty shop will bring jobs to the island and prevent another empty shop in town staying empty.” I agree with your comments 110%.
What does Guernsey have against pies and pasties which have been the staple diet of the UK, especially North and South West England, for centuries. Does no one in Guernsey ever make meat or apple or mince pies? How sad.
Maybe Mrs P’s comment “Oh no. How terribly common, a pasty shop.” sums up Guernsey’s attitude. How pretentiously snobbish is that? Ignorant as well since pies and pasties don’t have greasy food wrappers. Shame she couldn’t have made her comments tasteful rather than tasteless.
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We Do not need another coffee shop, we need shops like pound world used to be, you could get many a good bargain there and you did not have to go outside of town in your dinner hour.What next is Woolies going to be a new Dinner, come on States put your foot down lets have some decent shops in Guernsey NO MORE COFFEE SHOPS.
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I am from Cornwall and I can tell you that the all the ingredients will be from cornwall using Cornish beef, swede, potatoes etc.
A senners pasty is not a patch on a true cornish pasty…these are gonna be really good. I am sure you would not like the Cornish to start produce Gache in their local bakeries because it just wouldn’t be the same would it?
An authentic pasty is made in Cornwall…that is the whole point of this shop, to give you a taste of the best!!!
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No one comments on the impact of this new shop on local businesses?
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Pie lover – perhaps Mrs P’s comments were ironic -irony, another thing not known for in Guernsey perhaps.
Pasties. What a load of old cobblers. Where are the diet police when you need them?
obviously everything will be brought in frozen – or else you may find a situation where there is no one able to bake them without serious training which could take years and years…………….!
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Sarnia Expat – Do you have a clue? Why do we need the diet police? Ok, so the pastry is made up of flour and lard/butter but a good large pasty is a good meal with meat, potatoes and veg…everything you need.
And if i know Cornish pasties (which I do very well) they will probably be made in Cornwall with fresh local ingredients (as we Cornish are proud of what we have) and shipped out to Guernsey. Yes they will be frozen then but the point is they will be made in Cornwall and it does not take a masterchef to bung them in the oven until they turn golden brown now does it? Its not ever difficult to make pasties from scratch (including pastry).
I think even your could do it…give it a try.
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Hang on Brian, on one post your saying (or implying) that they should only be made in Cornwall, on the next your telling everyone to have a go themselves!!
Have all those pasties gone to your head?
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Thank you for your wonderful comments. I am well versed in all things pastry, and pasty, given that I regularly bake and sell my own products in the UK. Having said that, my comments were obviously misunderstood by you. Of course it dosen’t take anyone qualified to “bung” frozen pasties in the oven; IslandWide have been doing it for years haven’t they? – but I was thinking of Nelia who was having trouble with the powers that be relating to her Portuguese baker …… ironic that we can ship frozen stuff here, but not that we can produce FRESH stuff locally. And no, I am not talking Senners. Incidently, what is your recipe for the perfect pasty? I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours!!
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I’m only interested in their pasties if they come in the flavour of an 80′s rock band.
ahem!
Anyways, don’t really have an opinion one way or the other but for those of you commenting on the number of jobs that this highly esteemed purveyor or frozen pastry will bring?
Wow it must be ‘hundreds’
I mean they are going to be employing a HUGE amount of people.
………and by ‘hundreds’ I mean ‘approximately the number that worked at Poundworld’
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I’m currently in Portsmouth on my way home to Guernsey and spotting a Pasty Presto outlet in Gunwharf Quays, and having heard that they are opening in Guernsey decided to try one.
Having lived in Plymouth for 17 years and knowing and loving the true pasty (although not quite the Cornish variety)I can vouch for the quality of their product which was every bit as good as the ones I tasted in the West Country and I congratulate Sandpiper for attempting to bring in something new.
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I personally dont see the problem, if you don’t like it don’t go, that is freedom of choice. Like all chain stores that have been in Guernsey after the initial interest has passed it will be a another memory.
And given the rents, it may not make it past the first month anyway.
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Oh, and as for it being a well known product, never heard of it!
…………..
Same here ?
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i think like every thing else we should just give it a go if its to exspensive people wont buy were all on a budget i certainly cant afford it i have a job making ends meet now, but it will employ jobs and if it does go well then good on them a change would be nice but i thought we were all surpose to eat healthy 5 aday and all that i will give it till xmas then we shall see another bits the dust.
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Sorry Brian, put a comment up yesterday, but the moderator apparently didn’t like it.
Basically, I am well qualified to comment on all things pastry and pasty – given that I bake and sell such items in UK. My own recipes, not other peoples however!
I was trying to be funny regarding the “training” of new cooks however. Obviously there is nothing to putting a frozen item into an oven. Therefore there should be hundreds of applicants for these jobs in Guernsey when the shop opens.
Having said that – shame that we have to rely on outside goods being brought in – and why pasties? That’s my point really. This was an opportunity for something unique, rather than service station chic.
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Pasties are not exactly what you would call a healthy food, more work for the Chest and Heart association.
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Yes Merlin but who will they employ even Boots are employimg staff from outside of Guernsey
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‘The opening of this shop also reflects Sandpiper’s determination to play our part in ensuring St Peter Port remains the jewel in Guernsey’s retail crown.’…and to make as much money as possible.
So, the asset stripping operation that is Sandpiper Bidco is now an expert on the local market and it’s needs and wants, ay? And there was silly me, one of the first of many to be made redundant after the takeover (thanks, guys), thinking that they were just a bunch of imported wealth, buying up then stripping down the largest CI conglomerate to sell off to Tescos/Sainsburys at the first opportunity before legging it to the Caymens.
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Here we go, another future failure for Guernsey’s lamentable retail industry. Too specialist, too boring, too much of the same. If Sandpiper want to achieve something, they should set up a drive-thru MacDonald’s off the roundabout at Admiral Park, make a fortune and give the public something they actually want.
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Sensible (now there is a misnomer) – I’m not usre what part of the public you are speaking for, but it must be a very small part of it. I can just imagine the outcry on these pages if that proposal was being suggested!
(or were you being ironic? )
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100% agree Sensible !! Give the public what they want ! I want just ONE fast food place that isnt Manky’s or along the urine soaked alley by Follies! Mc’d, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, even Yo! Sushi! anything that isnt the same as every other food place in Guernsey!
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Sensible
MacDonalds?? Change your name – it’s inappropriate.
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Sarnia expat – apologies if I seemed a little disrespectful, having read back my comment it was not intentional.
I dont think it is a case of bringing goods in, but having food of a different local community. There are lots of chinese and indian take aways with food cooked by the their native people so we dont need another one of them…but this will be the only Cornish Pasty (made by cornish people) place on the island.
Just might be nice to give the islanders a taste of cornwall….mmmmmmm…..pasty
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Will I be able to take my pasty to the milkshake place down the road and get it ‘converted’?
A lunchtime Special Purpose Vehicle, if you please.
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Bingo-Jane, Perhaps Sandpiper could build an underground between the two locations to get you there quickly…
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Hey everyone do you all remember MAISON CARRE or am I dating myself? Their cakes, pies,gache,Guernsey biscuits, Jersey wonders, cream cornets, eclairs etc. were to die for. A coffee shop and bakery with some of the best treats I have ever tasted!
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Brian – I’m just gonna go ahead and doubt your Cornish credentials. I’m also Cornish and if you think that a FROZEN pasty shipped from Cornwall then “bunged in the oven” is going to be anything like a real, fresh Cornish pasty then you’ve got swede on the brain. It’ll be about as Cornish as Ginsters.
I expect it’ll survive, as will Costa. These places are less about what they actually serve and more about lifestyle. This is what the Guernsey equivalent of the metrosexual want, and I, for one, don’t see it as a bad thing. Investment at a time of downturn is a good thing – don’t forget also that Guernsey doesn’t just cater (no pun intended) for locals – the tourists on the big ships are the ones who spend the cash…
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MT – Reckon they should start making Stargazey Pie here in Guernsey?….just to prove my Cornish credentials
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Goodness, what A hoo-hah over A new shop opening……. If people like it and the food they serve fine…… if they dont like it that is also fine dont go back….. But at least give it a chance? I have grave reservations regarding Sandpiper, however the occupation ended in 1944 and I doubt that anyone will be frogmarched into this shop, Also food is very subjective, what one person enjoys another person may abhor.
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I think it’s a good idea, however, would like to have seen it in the Lower Pollet or in the Prince of Wales – for a pasty and a pint? Er that would be with real ale!
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we were promised iceland so were is it we can afford the local food prices when were on benefits i find it very hard to find the rent and pay my utility bills i cant afford fresh meat and veg or fruit so please help the familys that are on low income we need all the help we can . so for another pasty outlet its a joke.
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It is good to see a vacant premises being opened and the jobs that it brings (6 according to their website).
I do question the choice of food, you can get a pasty from this chain with chocolate and banana, hardly healthy combined with the fat in the actual pastry.
Let’s hope that there is no landfill packaging with this company and they at least only serve pasties in takeaway format in a paper bag etc.
If they supply their food in styrofoam etc. then poor choice of retail outlet permitted by the States.
Personally a healthier outlet would have been welcomed, the saturated fat content in one of these pasties is probably pretty high. There are no real food facts on their website, so a bit of a gamble as to what you are actually consuming of your RDA.
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Hang-on a minute all you Guernsey foodies. Forget Cornwall.
If you are looking for the definitive local peasant fare – look no further than Sark.
Traditional Sark lamb pasties have been baked in Sark for generations. Quantities of minced Sark lamb, with the necessary fat for flavour, plus diced Sark potatoes and vegetables. All baked in a wholesome chunky pastry case.
Wonderfully Sark-a-licious and available daily at all good farmhouse eateries in Sark!
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Will they be doing a Chips Cheese ‘n’ Beanz pasty?
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The Sark pasties sound nice – unfortunately i cannot afford the boat that often!
Fast food outlets are there for convenience (obviously) – mainly quick lunches for those too lazy to make sandwiches and the ‘alcohol hunger pangs’ brigade.
Sally: Iceland is awful food – we have an abundance of hedge veg and together with a decent cut of meat (OK that may be more expensive than iceland ) will make a very very nice and nutritious meal. We don’t cook anymore – that is the trouble. We want to throw crud in the oven and eat half an hour later – with no thought to what we are doing to our health.
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McDonalds??? Its the first thing that most of my friends and I head for when we get off the island…
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Gregorious my dearest, if the cultural and environmental disaster of McDonalds is what you prefer when off Guernsey then please do consider not coming back.
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What an eye opener reading this has been.
Come down of your high horses people, its a pasty shop, we are not opening a “shoot your own steak” restaurant here.
Although judging by the height of some of your horses you sound like you would be happier with the bespoke Dining experience that would be provided by killing your own cow for dinner.
I’m afraid the burgeoning Oysters and Truffles R’ Us franchise wont be coming to guernsey either, because only about 10 people would go.
So either some of you move to Monaco, or be happy with the supply and demand culture that Guernsey already has which means the pasty shop (despite its nutritional shortcomings and down to earth values) will probably do well.
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Merlin – we live on Sark and none of us can afford the boat fare either! You are in good company!
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MMMmmm Fattening
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Cat – “Supply and demand culture” Where’s the demand for an enormous shop selling boutique pasties??!
The pasty devotees on this forum no doubt remember Guernsey’s last pasty retailer. Gillies Pasties, owned and run by a local lad, he lasted about three weeks selling out of a converted broom cupboard in town before the great Guernsey pasty apathy drove him out of business!!
Why oh why couldn’t it have been a Greggs? There’s a business model that works, is probably healthier(!!), and isn’t a one trick pasty pony.
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We want Guernsey Pasties for Guernsey People!
Ormer pasties
Fudge pasties
Guernsey Cow pasties
Donkey pasties
Securitised pasties (half the floorspace in the shop could be a trading floor)(Is speculation on snacks regulated?)
Pasty Trusts.
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hi every one iceland food is all i can afford i went to safeways yesterday and spent £110 that was my limit to last 2 weeks i couldnt afford the fresh meat and the price of fresh veg well its really hard for me so iceland is what i do sorry there meats are cheaper, not as nice but at least we have some meat and there frozen veg is ok if you use a steamer, if i can get cheaper meat i do at the co-op i wish we had a great big tesco or sainsburys the adverts on tv make me made 3 for £10 for meat and lidal 99p stuff please help the ones with familys one parent familys and us oldies who are sick and on benefits .we have high enough rents to pay we cant afford a car we were thinking of moving to uk which alots of locals have done already.sorry merlin my views
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Sally – moving to the UK is not the answer that so many people think it is, particularly if you are ill, elderly or living on benefits. Their supermarkets may be cheaper but they have council tax on their properties which is thousands of pounds and transport costs etc are higher (I know as i have lived in the UK).
We have an abundance of very very cheap hedge veg – you can make a huge bowl of soup or, with a cheap cut of meat make a stew for next to nothing and it will fill you up with a hunk of bread – add pastry top and you have a lovely pie. Jacket potatos with various fillings; How about saving up and buy a breadmaker (they are in the e-cycle pages of the press for nothing quite frequently) – they bread works out at about 20p a loaf. Chickens are not expensive and cheaper buys of meat can be found – find a good butcher as they tend to be cheaper than supermarkets.
I am sounding like Jamie Oliver here but i feed a family of 4 for a week with a £100 and the food is mainly home cooked and not out of a freezer and into a microwave or oven. It takes time but it is worth it. Yes, i get tired after work and sometimes it is an effort but the more organised i get the easier it is. I am also going to look for a slow cooker on e-cycle as that will also help.
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Slightly off topic but I have to agree with Merlin, Iceland is awful. I don’t agree with people saying it is a necessity due to a low income. You can make a bean jar or soup for next to nothing and freeze the remainder. Iceland’s advertising campaign is obviously working if people such as sally feel it is the only way to feed their family on a budget.
On another note regarding “were thinking of moving to uk”, Just because food is cheaper there it does mean you will be better off and if you think it is difficult getting a car over here then I am afraid you have no hope in the UK.
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Bingo-Jane – just watch out for those open-ended collective investment pasties, they can be very messy if you hold them the wrong way up.
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I’m hoping they will have some sort of ‘Deposit Protection Scheme’ in case I get any filling on my tie.
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I was brought up in the UK and I haven’t heard of this retailer – certainly not a retail giant. However, I think we do need to fill the high street up with quality names. I believe it is difficult for locals to understand how really bad some of the local businesses are, especially when compared to the chains in the UK, continent or even the US. I tried to buy an iron last week and I was asked for 45 pounds with a straight face (bought for 15 pounds in my native London by aunt and sent over – same make and model to prove a point). LCD televisions over 1200 quid, when you can get the same make and model for 450 in currys/comet. I am all for supporting local business and local industry, but only if it is worth supporting. Quite frankly some stores are reminiscent of the UK in the 1970s, the reason why they don’t exist anywhere in the UK is due to market forces. People won’t pay top dollar for poor service / products.
Basic economic lesson 101: In Guernsey, you have an artificial barrier that protects these businesses, which means poor business decisions aren’t punished by business failures; excessive profit taking is not threatened by competitors entering the market (and no pressure on reducing prices); Lack of retailers mean that customers don’t have a choice and thus, there is no impetus for retailers to differentiate themselves on either price or quality. For us it is like shopping in the Soviet Union – i am surprised I don’t queue for bread.
Local businesses for local people? Or accept that the social make-up of the island has changed and that the sizeable immigrant population (who disproportionately contribute huge tax revenues) deserve to be catered for too.
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p.s. food is substantially cheaper in the UK….it does make a difference.
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It`s even cheaper in china
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Peter Scuberry – I agree on the whole, except that there is now competition in the form of internet shopping. You mention TVs – John Lewis, Amazon and many others will deliver free of charge. Certain electrical retailers here would do well to realise that providing bad service is now bad for business because consumers can go elsewhere. I too support local businesses where I can and will even pay more to do so, but generally only where I feel I am getting good service as a result (eg buying tools from Gaudions instead of buying online). But there is one electrical retailer I have in mind who provides such shocking service that I would never consider buying from them again, local business or not.
But on the whole, I like the idea of the Town streets not being a carbon copy of every UK high street. Long may that remain – but for the right reasons please: i.e. customer service rather than barriers to entry.
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