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It is a great shame and a poor reflection on Londis that they have managed to lose a great independent retailer like Sunder to the multiples.

Lets get this straight; to be truly independent we retailers need the support and investment from our suppliers, this is the immediate difference between 'One Stop/Tesco' and the likes of Nisa/Costcutter/Londis/Premier etc.

Independent retailers are being offered investment in their businesses and guaranteed increased profits by One Stop/Tesco; who in this very uncertain world would not take that offering?

There is a very real danger here that the format of the independently owned and run convenience store will homogonise into the format of the multiples and the independent store owner becomes nothing more than a manager replicating exactly what he/she is told by 'One Stop/Tesco'

This threat is compounded hugely by the fact that the most of our customers are not aware that there is a threat at all; their knowledge of the market is minimal. Therefore we cannot expect our customer base to support us!

I see this latest transition of the multiples into our market as the biggest threat we have ever faced and I am totally unsure how we are going to beat it this time around.

It is a brave man/woman who will carry on without moving to the 'protection' of 'One Stop/Tesco' once they get control of our market!

A sad world!