HOW SUPERMARKETS HAVE SHAPED THE COUNTRYSIDE

The opening of Sainsbury’s first self-service store in suburban Croydon in London 70 years ago marked the genesis of a radical upheaval in how we shop for food. Thrilled with the apparent convenience of this modern supermarket system, many of us abandoned the local shopping habits of a lifetime, heading off to slick new stores.

In just a few years, the supermarkets came to dominate food shopping in the UK. Four big supermarket chains now provide two-thirds of the nation’s food. If we add in smaller chains, that figure becomes 94%. Although the dominance of these retailing giants is most apparent in urban conurbations – all those big stores with generous car parks – powerful grocery multiples have also transformed our rural places in fundamental ways.

Now that we’ve reached roughly a lifetime of supermarkets in the UK, let’s take stock of what this shopping and food-supply-chain