Tesco Greenfield
Trading at the new Tesco in Greenfield has been better than the company had expected, since it opened in December.
The supermarket’s new manager, Bill Davidson, has also revealed to Saddleworth News that the store has made small donations to this year’s Saddleworth Show, Whit Friday Band Contests, and Saddleworth Village Olympics, as it aims to support local good causes.
Mr Davidson has been in his job for ten weeks, after the shop’s launch manager Anna Wisniowski was promoted to another job within the company. He said he’d like to thank local people for their support, saying the store has done “tremendously well” in its first six months.
He commented: “We’re trading far better than the company thought we would. There’s no plans because of that to do anything to the store. I think we’re just going to accept the fact that Greenfield is going to be small… this is certainly not a big Tesco store.”
Bill Davidson
Mr Davidson stressed that he was keen to hear comments and suggestions from local people. He can be e-mailed at bill.davidson@uk.tesco.com
On supporting local good causes, he said: “It’s not something that we want to be seen to be taking over. There’s not going to be a Tesco stand and it’s not going to have Tesco branding, we just want to try to put some money into what we class as local projects.”
Mr Davidson added: “We’ve had lots of requests for things from Oldham, from Glossop, from surrounding areas, but we want to try to commit the money to if not Greenfield and Uppermill, certainly to Saddleworth and not much further than that.”
He explained that the store’s community budget is organised by its Community Champion, former Greenfield postman Greg Barratt. Money is spread between causes relating to children, animals and pensioners.
Mr Davidson continued: “He knows the area very well, and he makes sure that the money goes to local, and I mean local, help.”
To hear this section of the interview, which we recorded at the store last week, click on the box below:
You can read and listen to the first two parts of the interview here and here.
All Saddleworth News articles about Tesco Greenfield can be read here.
Enough already with the Tesco propaganda. I shop there but beyond that i have no interest… and i suspect few do.
They seem to be using there vast wealth (for every £28 spent in the UK Tesco get £1 of it) to try and win Saddleworth over. £100 here, £100 there to various charities and local organisations (big deal… i refer you to the figure above). I’m sure you dont need to be a mouthpiece for them…. inless you’re now in their pocket?
Hi Anthony, I’m afraid I don’t agree the interview I’ve run this week with the Tesco manager amounts to “propaganda” – I think it’s legitimate to go along and ask him about issues like whether there’ll be a petrol station, what impact his supermarket might be having on local shops and so on. The comments left on this site and on the Facebook page every time I write about Tesco indicate that, while you may not be interested, others are.
Your suggestion that I might be “in their pocket” is nonsense. You can see all of the site’s advertisers on the right-hand side, and I always make that connection clear when I publish a story about one of them.
And perhaps you could inform us how many column inches you’ve dedicated to Tesco since they arrived in comparison to… lets say the Co-op or maybe Stamfords or any other business for that matter? Why does Tesco’s performance or desire to expand its products constitute news? I haven’t heard you inform us all that the butchers has started to do a new sausage?
Anthony, Tesco arriving in Saddleworth is a big issue, and has been a major local talking point for years, so I make no apology for covering it. Unlike, say, the local newspapers, I’ve actually bothered to go along and interview both managers of the supermarket and challenge them about various things.
This website isn’t my job and I’m only able to spend an hour or two a day on it, so I can’t be nearly as comprehensive as I’d like to be. But I’ve done lots of articles about local shops in the past year. In fact, the last Saddleworth News TV video bulletin was entirely about the Shop Local Festival and featured nothing but interviews with local traders.
And in reply to your comment about sausages, clearly you must have missed this piece about Neil the butcher in Uppermill and his prize-winning lambs! http://www.saddleworthnews.com/?p=4640
Well Richard,
Although we will have to agree to differ i must say thankyou for publishing my posts without edit. That shows you are a very worthy publication and i will continue to enjoy reading both the webpage and the newspaper.
Many thanks
Anthony
It does annoy me to read comments like these from Mr Boskovic.
What right do you have to attack and criticise without any basis of an argument?
Saddleworth News is one of the (if not “THE”) best source of local information we have in Saddleworth – anyone who’s spent any time reading it will know that Richard does a superb job, covers local news and remains far more impartial and professional than any other source of media than we have locally (and in may cases nationally!) – and Richard has always done an excellent job of full disclosure.
Good on Richard for publishing your offensive comments which just goes even further to show his impartiality and professionalism.
But I think, Mr Boskovic that you should now get off your high horse and remember that you’re just an ordinary little man just like the rest of us, you’re nobody special and not somebody who has some right to throw about wild accusations and then not apologise when you’ve clearly made a mistake.
I’m sure you would not like to be on the receiving end of unfounded and offensive accusations – and just because Richard chooses to write things on this web site and share his hard work with us does not mean that he should be open to your abuse.
If you’ve got some kind of beef with Tesco, go take it up with them, or write a letter to the editor.
Try asking for support rather than going on the offensive, you’ll find you’ve got plenty of supporters here.
But directing your anti-Tesco venom at Richard and accusing him of being in their pocket and then “agreeing to differ” is bang out out of order and does not right your initial wrong.
You owe Richard an apology and your thanks for publishing unedited versions of your posts and subsequent transparent compliments do not achieve that – man up, admit you were wrong and give Richard the apology he rightly deserves!
I’m more than happy to support you in your campaign against Tesco – but ONLY if you are willing to go about it in a non-personal way with arguments based on fact.
I don’t think you need to be so defensive Richard. Tesco being here IS news – Fact. I find the coverage you’ve provided thus far to be comprehensive and neutral; i.e. competent reporting.
Yes Anthony, Tesco make a fortune – this is true. Perhaps why they’re in business? The comment about a £100 here and there is unworthy I think. A £100 here and there is still money donated and will help. Would you prefer it if they didn’t give anything? It seems to me that they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Cheers all
Chris