Dates

Opposite the bus station in Durham is a grocer’s shop, Robinson’s. It reminds me of old Mrs Derbyshire’s grocery in the village where my parents used to live – friendly, good people who care about their produce, and run a small business to pay the bills. I just picked up about 1.5kg of fresh raspberries for £3, and a huge packet of (about 30) Medjool dates (which sell in Waitrose down the road at about £2 for 8) for £1 – not only is the shop locally-owned, the produce largely locally-sourced and fantastic quality, it’s mighty cheap.

Opposite Robinson’s is currently a building site, which is renovating an old wine shop into a Tesco Metro, opening in a few weeks’ time. I was discussing this with my housemates a day or so ago, and contemplating what this will mean for the grocery shop, fearing that like so many small businesses, it will suffer or even close when a supermarket opens nearby. Needless to say, I will definitely be shopping at Robinson’s until I leave Durham.

I value Robinson’s very much, and will be sorry for both them and myself if they close. Capitalism does tend toward monopoly, but only if price is the dominant factor in attributing value to goods – I hope this test-case will disprove my fears about the things people value…