YOU CAN DO YOUR WEEKLY SHOP IN MALTON TOWN CENTRE - 28th January 2014

Many people think they have to do their weekly shop in a supermarket. However, Malton shops are entirely independent and the town centre can stand on its own and compete with Morrisons and the other supermarkets. We do at least 95% of our weekly shop in the town centre.

We usually start with Derek Fox, the butcher, whose shop is one of the few in the county which is licensed to sell game. If there is any meat product they don’t have, Overtons will have it (and vice versa). We go to Yorkshire Trading for cleaning materials, including washing powder and dishwasher tablets etc. We get bread from Thomas’s, buy fish from the fishmonger, and go to Heron for frozen foods and general groceries. If we want any cereals, dried fruits, flour, herbs spices, pasta or other cooking and baking ingredients, we can buy as much or as little as we want from Scoops. Scoops is a real “Aladin’s Cave” – it is amazing what you can buy there. They also sell general groceries. Linton’s pet shop sells pet food, and we usually end up in Paley’s for fruit, vegetables, coal and firewood. Paley’s selection is fully comprehensive, and includes local, seasonal, produce. After Paley’s we have a cup of coffee at the Hidden Monkey. If we want to buy any alcoholic drinks, we can get them from Sainsbury’s on the way home.

We can get round the shops in just over an hour, and then go for a coffee. We get our milk delivered by a local milk man. We prefer a local butcher because their meat is hung, and therefore tastes better than supermarket meat. It is not pre-packaged and we can therefore buy as much or as little as we want. Paley’s is an amazing shop which sells an incredible variety of goods at very competitive prices. Again very little is pre-packaged and we can buy as much or as little as we like.

We have many friends and relatives who live in conurbations and normally shop in supermarkets. When they come to stay, they are very impressed with what is available in Malton. Some of them will stock up in shops like Paleys and Derek Fox before they go home.

We eat well.  Our weekly in-town shop costs on average about £ 74 plus tea or coffee at the Hidden Monkey. We do not believe supermarket shopping would be any cheaper.

Incidentally, it is not being suggested that the shops named above are any better than their town centre competitors. They are simply our preference – other shoppers will have different preferences. For example, both Derek Fox and Overtons are excellent butchers, and Dales is also a very good greengrocer. There is a huge variety of outstanding delicatessens and coffee shops, including “Dickens of a Deli”, “Rory’s Bar” and “The New Malton”. The variety and competition between Town Centre shops contributes to the quality and competitive prices of their goods. This all helps to make town centre shopping a more worthwhile experience than a supermarket shop.

Malton town centre provides a comprehensive range of food shops which effectively compete with the Supermarkets, and everybody should make the best use of them. If we don’t use them, we’ll lose them.