We first mentioned it back in January 2011 and progress has been slow since, but it looks like Sainsbury’s is finally to open a Local branch on Charlton Church Lane; hoardings appeared on the building overnight indicating that it will open in November.
With work continuing on a rather larger branch of Sainsbury’s round the corner on Gallions Road, we’d be interested to know what our readers think of Sainsbury’s local dominance: good for your weekly shop, or bad news for local independent shops?
The Charlton Champion 
Both!!
Although I’m generally much in favour of supporting local businesses, I’m thrilled to know that I’ll be able to pop to the local shops having to ‘deal’ with groups of young people who are clearly buying more than just sweets in some of those existing shops.
It would be nice not to have a Sainsbury monolopy but the reality is that the alternative was probably a tesco metro. I also know that, personally speaking I will find it far more useful than the cluster of rather unappealing shops at that end of CC Lane (although i recognise that some people like those shops and I hope they will continue to patronise).
It would be nice to have a really good independent grocer/deli or could have been a good spot for a deli/winebar for the post train croud but i think that we might have to wait for later in the Charlton story for these to appear.
On the subject of convienence shops i’ve heard that the excellent greengrocer in the village will now be opening until 8pm making it more realistic to to use after work mid-week.
I’m sure I’ll use the local for odds and sods but I think people will be surprised at how much dearer these local stores are than the their bigger brothers. I’ll still be getting stuff from the friendly folks at the FA store.
Wow the exterior of that building has not aged well at all in the short time it has been built.
It should never have been allowed to be extent it was as the ‘paving’ area (cheap tarmac) outside is tiny and will be a real pinch point.
It is a bit of a pinch point even now, the narrow blind corner with Floyd rd in particular. I’ve had a few near misses going around it and navigating with children and buggies is particuarly difficult.
As for the design it seems to embody the spirit of cheaply built over-development of a site, Charltons mini carbuncle award winner perhaps, I’m dissapointed it was allowed. I’ve noticed a certian trend of Greenwich planning being very obstructive to householder planning applications but happily waving through pretty much any commerical application it seems, very odd.
It’ll be interesting to see where they park the delivery lorries, and what effect that has on the surrounding streets when they’re unloading; there’s not a lot of room for manoeuvre round there.
I’m hoping Sainsbury’s goes under and they open a Waitrose on that very spot… 😎
That would be nice, when the new big sainsburys opens opposite the case for two stores so close might not stack up so it could be a possibility. I’m aware of examples in more rural market towns/ big villages where parish councils have actively encouraged waitrose to take over stores as part of (successful) regeneration plans. Could happen here if either the local ward councillors acted in concert (perhaps unlikely despite all being on the same side) or some other local society took it up. One for the charlton society in the future perhaps?
I’d like to see a Woolworth’s or Timothy Whites there.
Pirate King – A Lyons Tea House?
Lovely.
Good news for Charlton as the current array of offerings are disorganised and messy. The staff are nice enough but I would like to see them given the old fashioned look as in Blackheath. Ambicios I know but with London marching East at pace the commercial opportunities are abound are should reflect those changes. A couple of good attempts so far; the chemist in the village etc.
Progress! Yes, I agree that it’s both good and bad. We’ll use it to augment our weekly shop, even if Sainsburys hasn’t been a preferred provider. We use Tescos for the basics, Waitrose for the upper ends, Drings for meat and are shifting off the Creaky Shed and Blackheath Sunday Farmers market to the green grocers in the village. I don’t think Charlton is posh enough, overall, to support a Waitrose; but, it’s cleaning up nicely year on year.
I have not seen jobs been advertised for Sainsburys local! Would have been good for the local people. I really hope it does not kill the other shops as they will most likely turn into flats!
They were advertised on the Sanisburys website, I know this as my partner is one of the people that has got a job to work at the new Charlton store, he is currently training at the Greenwich Local shop. Applications were only accepted from people who lived within a certain distance of the store.
Nice to know, Loz. Thanks for this update.
Hopefully they’ll turn into a coffee shop with a delicious bakery or/and into a restaurant with good food. Or even a charity shop there are none around.
I think the new Sainburys Local Store will give the shops and businesses on Charlton Church Lane a much needed. Boost. It will be convenient for commuters being so close to Charlton Station. I think the other shops on Charlton Church Lane need to be upgraded by being cleaned repainted and new shop fronts if required,. Many of the stores are looking a bit dirty on the outsides after years of traffic pollution etc. I am sure Sainsburys would be keen to work with either local businesses on Charlton Church Lane.
Congratulations to your partner! It makes sense they favour local residents. Lets hope at least one of the shops next to Sainsbury’s becomes a specialist shop for fresh herbs and spices. They are going to have to adapt by changing their business model; there are many things they could do that are different. I hope they don’t just close down. There is a shop in Brighton in Western Road called Raj. They do really well by specialising on products that neither Tesco, Sainsbury’s or Waitrose have. I hope some of the guys in the high street go and visit and get some ideas of how to move forward.
I am answering myself to add a link to it. Taj is opossite a large Waitrose and very close to a Saynsbury’s local and a big Tesco and it does really well. It is always busy and has 5 or 6 tills!! It stocks tons of stuff you would not find on a local chain supermarket, it is brilliant.
http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/taj-mahal-international-foods-brighton
I trust our corner shops are enterprising enough. I think we all want to support them but ths is not about charity, it is about diversifying the offer in our high street. Charlton is full of market niches!
This new store is going to destroy local business which offer a more down to earth, friendly service. If deli’s and high end shops such as waitrose are introduced in this area, its soon going to change into a yuppie, pretend perfect place, full of middle class rich stay at home mums, that waste away in wine bars, spend extortionate amounts on artisan bread and set up cupcake buisnesses.
The local shops give character to the area, which prevent the monotonous sights that are seen everywhere which make it hard to differentiate between one area and the next.
Stay away mothers waste away in wine bars? LOL! I nearly choke on my tea hahahah thanks a lot. That really made me laugh!!! They don’t need to become a deli, just a shop that offers different products to Sainsbury’s. Otherwise these guys are going to have a really tough time and nobody wants to see a boring high street with the same boring chain shops or with shops boarded up!! They can still be affordable just sell different products. I don’t think we’ll see a Waitrose anytime soon…
Charlton isn’t Blackheath and it isn’t Woolwich. It’s something in between and, like it or not, it’s changing. Change is never something that everyone will be comfortable with. Some won’t like the fact that Sainsbury will have delivery trucks in the early morning. Some won’t like the fact that the drug dealers won’t have a place to stand anymore. Complaining is easier than doing.
If you don’t want wine bars, delis, or artisan bread then you have to bring in something else that attracts the punters. Brew and Choo sure didn’t pull them in. And, to be fair, we don’t have the cupcake crowd here at this time. Sainsbury’s seems to reflect the degree of diversity/homogenization that’s underway at this moment. It won’t make everyone happy.
It’ll certainly worry the convenience shops already in the area. I think that on balance I welcome it, but will wait until it opens. I normally do my weekly shop at the large store so I’m used to Sainsbury’s brands anyway. It will hopefully mean I won’t need to go so far to do the shopping. It is odd, though, that they waited so long after it was built to decide to open it.
Don’t forget that the ‘locals’ usually charge quite a bit more than the actual supermarkets. Not necessarily on everything, but watch it!
Looks like it’s going to open this week:
Just to update, it opened on Friday (14th). It was closed for most of Saturday because of a bust pipe in the flat upstairs. I felt really sorry for the staff as the water was cascading from the ceiling and they were working like Trojans to mop up. It re-opened in the evening.
As I surmised, it’s generally a fair bit pricier than the big version. Two pints of milk are £1.10 for example. The FA shop three doors up is cheaper.
Looks like a good bread counter there, but there was nowt there on Sunday evening.
1 lemon in Sainsbury’s 38p. 5 lemons in the shop up the road £1