Shipston Shops Give Good Value

Added on Fri 8th Apr 2011 by Admin (Web designer)

One of the aims of Transition Towns is to encourage people to shop locally, thus supporting the local economy and using less petrol. Many Shipston shoppers drive 20 miles to shop in a big supermarket, saying this saves money.

Transition Shipston recently carried out a second experiment to see if this is true- the first, about 18 months ago, showed Shipston saved time and money overall. Then shopping in Shipston cost £2.75 more on items costing £61, but took 50 minutes compared with 1 hour 35 minutes plus 20 miles worth of petrol .

Last month we downloaded two sample shopping baskets, totalling 27 items (bread, meat, frozen food, veg, fruit, dairy, cleaning products, wine, etc.) One person priced all these in Tesco’s, another in Shipston’s Co-ops and independent shops. We used own brand prices in both cases. Every item was available in Shipston, while one was not available in Tesco’s. The total cost in Tesco’s was £40.54, and in Shipston….......... £40.14. Amazing. Without even taking into account the huge cost of petrol ,driving time and hassle- Shipston was cheaper.

Full details of the list are available, and we hope this experiment may convince more people that shopping in Shipston is not only more pleasant but excellent value too.
Helen Winnifrith, Transition Shipston