OPINION: Plenty of positives, but could new arrival spell trouble for city centre? - Kilkenny Live

With planning permission granted for a 3.9 hectare site last month (since appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála), County Kilkenny’s status as the last bastion of Ireland without a large Tesco location seems to be coming to an end.

The British retail behemoth has been gradually making inroads in the county in recent years, with smaller express stores opening in Ferrybank in November 2023 and High Street in Kilkenny City a year later.

Almost a point of pride for some residents and soon an outdated, mildly interesting trivia fact, discussion around Kilkenny’s years-long holdout will now turn to the impact that Tesco’s arrival will have on the city.

There are undeniably many positive aspects to the development, mainly the addition of 80 badly-needed residential units, an assisted care unit, a large amount of new jobs and the clearing up of the long-vacant mart yard site, for which Tesco Ltd paid the princely sum of just under €6 million.

Amidst regeneration in one area of the city, its centre is likely to suffer ill-effects of the undoubtedly massive footfall that the new supermarket will receive on opening.

Smaller independent businesses on the High Street and other areas can scarcely afford another blow amidst rising rents, electricity bills and insurance premiums, a decline which the emergence of a huge competitor could accelerate.

Some research has shown that supermarkets in a city centre can actually help other businesses as visitors are more likely to frequent other nearby shops, but with units on the edge of cities, as Tesco will be, trade drops significantly for smaller retailers.

In a city that has two Dunnes Stores, two Aldis, two Lidls and two Supervalu, was anyone really bemoaning the lack of options already available?

Cost of groceries

While we’re often encouraged to support small businesses and keep money in the community, it’s also not fair to put all the responsibility on consumers to do this when more convenient and cheaper options are available, but even this advantage of the supermarket has diminished as the cost of groceries skyrocket.

Grocery prices have increased by an eye-watering 36% over the last four years, a period where the Consumer Price Index rose by a much lower 21%, forcing some families to stump up an additional €3,000 per year to pay for essential items.

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With a Barnardos report finding that four in 10 parents had reduced their portion sizes or skipped meals altogether so that their children could eat, the notion of supermarkets providing a more affordable alternative to independent retailers is losing credence also.

While operating costs are certainly rising, allegations of price gouging have been levelled at the supermarket companies which refuse to publish detailed figures of the profits and expenses of their Irish operations.

Several third parties have appealed the granting of planning permission to An Coimisiún Pleanála, but at this point it seems inevitable that the red and blue logo of a large Tesco will go up over Kilkenny and the last empty space on their map of Ireland will finally be conquered.

Though the benefits already outlined will come with that, are they worth having a society becoming more homogenised with the same shops visible in every place while town centres continue to vanish?