Research carried out by The Daily Telegraph claims to have discovered that almost 3,000 greengrocers have been lost to UK streets over the past 10 years.
The newspaper obtained figures from HM Revenue & Customs for VAT-registered businesses showing that in April 1997 there were 6,916 registered independent greengrocers, but by April 2008 this figure had fallen to 3,948.
The dramatic decline, which is equivalent to five shops closing every week for the past 11 years, is due to a host of different factors, not least supermarket dominance. However, the research purports to show that, contrary to popular opinion, supermarket prices are in fact significantly higher than those offered by independents, even taking into account promotional prices and multi-buy offers from the multiples.
Journalists from the newspaper shopped for a basket of six fruit and five vegetable lines which cost £37.20 at the major multiples, but only £21.01 on average from four different independent greengrocers nation-wide.
“The supermarkets argue their shoppers frequently benefit from discounts if they buy multiple bags or packs,” the newspaper found. “However, Daily Telegraph research has included all promotions…including substantial discounts on apples, cherries and tomatoes.”
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