Asda keen to find site for store

7:00am Monday 29th October 2012 in News

ASDA bosses say they still want to build a new store in Kidderminster after abandoning plans for a superstore in Churchfields.

The retail giant, which already has a supermarket in New Road, is continuing to look at where it could open a new store in the town and is considering Bromsgrove Street as a location, despite earlier concerns about the suitability of the site where the Glades leisure centre currently stands.

Asda appealed to the planning inspectorate earlier this year after it claimedWyre Forest District Council had taken too long to consider its Churchfields application but withdrew its appeal in April.

Since then bosses have been working with the local authority to try and find an alternative site in the town.

Oliver Jones, Asda’s property communications manager, said: “We still very much look to come to Kidderminster.We continue to look at how we may be able to do that.

“We’re trying to work out whether Bromsgrove Street will work or won’t work.

We’re really interested in whether people would want to have a supermarket at that site.

“At the moment we’re still looking at it.

Comments(16)

curryman says...
1:35pm Mon 29 Oct 12

Bromsgrove Street as a location, my opinion is NO, completely the wrong area, why not have it on the old National Standard site ? easy road access can service both towns. And with the sugar beet site becoming houses very good catchment area for "walkers" Still think the idiots in charge would not want it opposite there " faulty towers"

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Cynical Sid says...
6:47pm Mon 29 Oct 12

Whoever came to the conclusion that Bromsgrove St should be considered seriously needs retract their heads out of the sand. Utterly clueless.

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Shibdrift says...
8:49pm Mon 29 Oct 12

ASDA given the cold shoulder - pity, it would have HELPED in the rejuvenation of Kidderminster.
I don't see crowds flocking to the Horsefair as it is!.
Don't the council have a mandate to help and improve life for their voters? Asda is a great place to shop and cheaper than many others.
Come on council, wake up (I know that is tricky in your new, heated, life of riley offices) everyone out here is hoping for SOMETHING useful to be done!!?
Probably too much to ask for though!

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kjb1 says...
8:47am Tue 30 Oct 12

Why move lesure centre to the outskirts of town where many people won't be able to access, in the hope of forcing Asda to move onto a site which is next to Morrisons and a short walk from Tescos. local shops have already suffered with many closing since Tesco took over the brintons site as it is !! large superstores should not be allowed in town centres !!

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runningbear says...
11:38am Tue 30 Oct 12

Why not use Stourport road for Asda, there are a few empty spaces instead of cramming them all in the town centre.

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CynBewdley says...
3:01pm Tue 30 Oct 12

NO NO NO to Bromsgrove street...town centre is crammed enough...terrible place for a Asda
YES YES YES to stourport road, easier access etc- and plenty of room for car parking/petrol station etc...MAKES SENSE...AND... half way between Kiddy and Stourport...
take a look ASDA...and see what u think, you wont be sorry!
C'mon council....tell em about this location!

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
3:34pm Tue 30 Oct 12

Seriously people you want the big superstore to be out of the town centre pulling all the custom away? This is why the rules were changed so as to stop that from happening. Town centre sites have to be examined first before out of town ones.

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happyness 21 says...
5:14pm Tue 30 Oct 12

why don,t they find a place that can benefit Bewdley people ,To do our shopping it either Kidderminster or Stourport for supermarket shopping as we have only co-op in Bewdley so surely Asda could look to wards Bewdley not in centre but just on the outside only we don,t want to spoil our pretty town but having to travel everytime we want a decent shopping well it 2012 so it time the people of Bewdley are thought more of we pay council taxes as well as Kidderminster and Stourport .

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nicky.griffiths says...
9:47am Thu 1 Nov 12

I am opposed to Asda being sited in Bromsgrove Street. To put another supermarket so close to Tesco and Morrison's seems ridiculous. I think it would be perfectly possible to redevelop the leisure centre there in the heart of the town and close to the Youth Centre. If Asda move onto this site what happens to the Bromsgrove Street car park? Does it become parking only for shoppers using the Asda store? Kidderminster can't afford to lose more parking.

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Jake42 says...
12:29pm Thu 1 Nov 12

The leisure centre is in the best place, central, near to buses / trains, plenty of parking , if it was put "out of town" then everyone would pretty much have to drive to it, putting Children (who mainly use it) at a disadvantage , The site isnt ideal for a supermarket , its too steep, imagine letting go of a shopping trolley and the damage / injury that would do , surely one option for Asda may well be the place that the leisure centre is proposed , Spennells. ! ??

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Dave Donut says...
4:47pm Thu 1 Nov 12

Not fussed where they put it, just hope it comes soon and has a petrol station.

That will knock 3p per litre off everyones fuel bills as the other petrol stations will have to compete - like they do towards the Black Country.

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neilhar says...
5:54pm Thu 1 Nov 12

Flipc. Tell that to the council who have built a new headquarters so far out of Kidderminster that it is, ion fact, in Stourport.

And of course, the recently announced move of the leisure centre to Spennells valley road. Both seriously pulling people out of two sites that previously were within the tow centre.

Also, is anyone really surprised at the timing of this announcement? A few days after the council announces the new LS site. It is all planned in cahoots with the council. Of course, Asda want to go onto Bromsgrove St right in the heart of our town centre. But to have admitted to this and be seen as the retail giant that shut our pool (etc) is not a good way to win customers.

Wake up folks.

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neilhar says...
6:04pm Thu 1 Nov 12

Asda is Walmart. They do not have the best interests of any community at heart. They have their profits at the CENTRE of everything that they do. They are aggressive marketeers that will stop at nothing to close each and every single competitor down. Big or small. Just look to their history.

Dave or is it Jack who just wants to be alright? I want cheaper fuel too. We are in this position because there are no or few smaller independent fuel suppliers, around here in particular. We are in this position directly because of the antics of the supermarkets and the big four for the last 20yrs. Now that they have succeeded in stifling local competition, they are all price fixing to keep the prices up locally. And yes, I firmly believe that all fuel suppliers have been price fixing and fully expect the competition commission to concur when their investigation concludes.

The bulk of fuel retailer's turnover is diesel. 70% of it I believe and guess what 70% of all of their profits also comes from diesel. We are being conned. there needs to be now difference in price and, in fact, diesel is cheaper to produce than petrol

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neilhar says...
6:04pm Thu 1 Nov 12

Asda is Walmart. They do not have the best interests of any community at heart. They have their profits at the CENTRE of everything that they do. They are aggressive marketeers that will stop at nothing to close each and every single competitor down. Big or small. Just look to their history.

Dave or is it Jack who just wants to be alright? I want cheaper fuel too. We are in this position because there are no or few smaller independent fuel suppliers, around here in particular. We are in this position directly because of the antics of the supermarkets and the big four for the last 20yrs. Now that they have succeeded in stifling local competition, they are all price fixing to keep the prices up locally. And yes, I firmly believe that all fuel suppliers have been price fixing and fully expect the competition commission to concur when their investigation concludes.

The bulk of fuel retailer's turnover is diesel. 70% of it I believe and guess what 70% of all of their profits also comes from diesel. We are being conned. there needs to be now difference in price and, in fact, diesel is cheaper to produce than petrol

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Stephen Brown says...
11:58pm Thu 1 Nov 12

Yup Neilhar it may be off topic....but sadly no supermarket chain, in the main, has the interests of the community at heart, they are in it to make money; and many will happily see the continued decimation of any of our town centres and surrounduing businesses in the pursuit of profit.

Unless we can think of alternative ways to revitalise our town centres, and keep council offices and leisure centres (generally) in them too (yup a dig) along with encouraging different types of trader in to offer something not found in the supermarkets, our town centres are on a hiding to nothing. I would be happier if we were looking at that, rather than discussing yet another multinational supermarket plonking its wares on our doorstep and siphoning its profits abroad rather than for the benefit of the local community as a whole and holidng us to ransom including on fuel prices.

Yes, we need investment in the town centre, (all town centres in fact) I just don't think a supermarket in an already crowded marketplace is the best thing, so excuse me if I don't turn cartwheels at the thought. That's despite what I think about Asda's boss in 2010 proclaiming his support for Govt austerity measures and in doing so helping to pile the misery on what I presume is most of its customer base. Maybe they think austerity is good for their business along with the bosses of Dunelm, Boots, Kingfisher, Carphone Warehouse, Microsoft, Mothercare, Whitbread, BT, MITIE, Marks & Spencer, Harvey Nicholls, Next, GlaxoSmithKline, Talk Talk, Moneysupermarket.com
? Some of whom prefer to avoid paying tax or have suffered one or two financial problems of their own thanks to the austerity programme. Now there's an irony that's well off topic.

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FlipC - The Mad Ranter says...
9:04am Fri 2 Nov 12

Neil - but of course those planning restrictions only apply to the large retailers :-)

Stephen - I suspect Asda are hoping that more customers 'drop' from Sainsbury's and Tesco to them than their own customers to Lidl and Aldi.

As to the town centres I think perhaps the opposite is required. As I mentioned in a different thread some time ago Kidderminster could try to position itself as a specialist in some area (preferably food-based) that would attract custom and in turn result in more diverse traders piggybacking that.

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