National supermarket juggernaut Tesco already gets up to a lot besides selling your bread and milk- internet, insurance, and, allegedly, dodgy accounting to name a few. Yet the chain is increasingly branching out into new areas that have left many skeptical at the prospects of the embattled supermarket. Building thousands of flats on top of large stores, as well as new housing developments on car parks are but a few of the bizarre solutions to falling profits being considered by chain mandarins.
However fewer headlines are covering the equally bewildering decision to open car garages in store car parks- in 2016 the company opened five sites for use, including at a Tesco express in Chesterfield, and announced 14 more sites to be opened in 2017- Sheffield and Barnsley among them. The service currently offers body repairs only, with scratch and chip removal, but it’s not yet clear if this will remain the case. Despite already promoting the sites, the company has not submitted planning applications for the modifications to their car parks, yet their application to Newcastle City Council does not specify the type of services to the offered- leaving questions about whether the giant seeks to expand its operations with the new sites.
Whether the project will be a success for Tesco- or a success for motorists- remains to be seen, yet it seems unfortunate that the company at the heart of the destruction of the British high street continues to seek new ways to make money- instead of getting their existing business model in order. Nevertheless, as an established & trusted family business, we’ll continue to offer our customers the great service and prices that have made us part of the Sheffield landscape for 80 years, confident that the public will continue to trust the specialists over the corporate Goliath.
