For Louise Oliver, it is the work of Charles Dickens that best describes her current predicament. “It’s a tale of a woman who has her lovely old shop taken over by a nasty piece of work,” she said, evoking Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop.
In this instance, the identity of this “nasty piece of work” may come as a surprise. In 1844, three years after Dickens published the tragic tale of Little Nell, the world’s first successful cooperative shop opened in Rochdale. It put power into the hands of the community, who were sick of being fleeced by the powers above.
Now, the Co-op, which traces its roots back to the Rochdale outfit, finds itself playing the bad guy, according to locals in Brighton. The retailer plans to expand one of its shops in the tight-knit Seven Dials area of the city, in doing so it will boot out two small, local businesses.
The salt in the wound for Brighton locals? The nearest Co-op to the one being extended is just 200m away. A three minute walk, according to Google Maps.
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Oliver, the owner of the independent wine seller Seven Cellars in Seven Dials, who could be forced to shutter her shop as early as November, said the move flies in the face of the Co-op’s claim to being an ethical business.
“Everything about the Co-op is a complete lie,” she said. “They’ve been very lucky to pretend to be the good guys all this time. I’m really happy that we’re able to point out that it’s nonsense.”
Oliver has been at Seven Dials for 10 years. “This shop is the only one I’ve ever opened where I’ve had the wonderful experience of people coming in and saying: ‘thank you for opening’,” she said.
Her landlord had sold the overarching lease of her premises to the Co-op, which operates a branch next door. Despite denials at first that anything would change, Oliver said she “realised there was something going on” when men with tape measures started turning up outside her shop.
“They sent a guy down in a suit with pens and papers and structural engineers and so on. We realised that they wanted to move into our shops,” she said. Soon after, she said she received an eviction notice.
The Co-op said they had given both businesses until January to leave but Oliver disputes this, saying the only date that has been communicated to her is in November.
The fact that the area is hardly starved of a larger Co-op makes the supermarket’s decision all the more baffling, she said. “I did the walk [from one Co-op to the other] the other day. It took me one minute and 45 seconds.”
Co-Op plan to evict Seven Cellars and Latina cafe so they can expand. Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian
If Oliver is forced out of her current premises, she said it could cost her £60,000. She has an alternative location in mind, but the rent is double what she pays now. “It’s got no lighting, no flooring, no heating. There’s no shelving, everything will have to be recreated,” she said. Though Oliver is owed a mandatory payment of about £8,500 for not having her lease renewed, she would have to cover the rest of the costs herself.
The Co-op recently admitted to more than 100 breaches of a rule that prevents supermarkets blocking rivals from opening competing shops nearby, which the UK competition watchdog said represented “a significant failure of compliance for a business of Co-op’s size”.
Siân Berry, the MP for Brighton Pavilion, has supported Oliver and the owner of Latina cafe, the other small business affected. She said: “Ever since last year, I have stressed to Co-op the strength of local feeling and urge them to pause this expansion. The future of these properties is the Co-op’s decision, and they should make the right one in line with their values that protects the life of the local community.”
Despite the stress of the situation, Oliver has been heartened by the community’s response. A Change.org petition in support of her campaign has collected nearly 12,000 signatures. “It’s been amazing,” she said. “Everybody has pulled together and just said no.”
She also believes the city overall, which is known for its quirky independent shops, needs to stand up to big high street chains. “We want a bustling, busy, wonderful, wonderful place. We need to preserve it. We need to protect it,” she said. “It’s not on for these big supermarkets who are never going to be happy until we’re all just playing into the system.”
The past few months have been tough, but Oliver is fighting on. “We used to be known as a nation of shopkeepers. I’m a retailer, my dad was a shopkeeper. It’s important to me and I want to keep it going. The Co-op won’t defeat me.”
A Co-op spokesperson said: “Co-op is committed to acting fairly, and the tenant leases are being fully honoured. They are now coming towards an end; something both tenants have long been aware of and we have offered an extension of the tenancies into the start of the new year to help and support the two businesses over the key Christmas trading period.
“Alternative plans to make the necessary changes to our store, which did not affect the neighbouring outlets, were initially submitted however planning permission was rejected.”