Waitrose raises property prices
DID you know that Waitrose raises property prices?
The Waitrose effect: How upmarket supermarket can add 50% to the value of your home
And given that it is the Mail of course they get it wrong. The truth lies in this qualification:
Miss Chick admitted there was ‘no real answer’ to whether Waitrose ‘gentrifies’ areas or if the chain only opens in areas which are already upmarket and so more expensive.
Waitrose is an expensive supermarket that sell over-priced goodies to hte middle and upper middle classes. They therefore put their stores where there’s likely to be a good supply of middle and upper middle class people who would like to purchase their over-priced stuff.
It is not that having a Waitrose in the area raises house prices: it is that Waitrose builds stores where house prices are high because that’s where the people who will use Waitrose live.
For exactly the same reasons you put a Co Op or a Lidl near the housing estates and Harrods is on one of the most expensive roads in the entire world. And a cocktail bar in Mayfair and a spit and sawdust pub on Tyneside.
Blimey, this is just the very essence of retailing: stick your store where your customers are likely to be. Even the people who advertise in the Mail (even if not those who write it) know this. There’s a significant shortage of ads in the paper for socialist unity meetings and an awful lot for the sorts of things that appeal to the female middle class. Because, you know, that’s what the readership is all about.
Posted: 30th, April 2013 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
