Do big stores equal regeneration?

I suppose it depends on your point of view. On the one hand, you could argue that big stores bring in more money and jobs, others say they "like" the type of shopping they provide.
On the other, you could point out that nearly everybody has one, the jobs are often of low pay, and the money goes to the stores shareholders and directors...and that the "like" factor is more to do with slick PR than it is to do with the customer (and for the cynical, the suppliers and workers).
A good place to start is with the Friends of the Earth from 2005....full pdf is at
www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/the_tesco_takeover.pdf

Often local regeneration is seen as a way in. Tesco's 'Regeneration Partnerships' claim to work with other 'stakeholders' to go into 'less attractive areas' for the supermarket chain and create jobs amongst the long-term unemployed. Yet dependency on one store which may have destroyed any other options does not necessarily provide sustained employment nor broad training opportunities.
“These guys are professionals and are in for the long haul. They have plenty of experience from around the country in winning planning permission – from PR campaigns in the local press to planning experts and expensive lawyers. What can we, a bunch of amateurs, do to stop them?” A local resident in Shaftesbury, a Dorset market town which saw a campaign against a Tesco development.
In reality, communities often find themselves losing out when a store moves in…
• In Hodge Hill, Birmingham, the city council is currently proposing to sell off part of a playing field to Tesco.
• There is a significant threat to post offices since Tesco acquired the T&S convenience store chain, as the new Tesco Express format often means closing 'in-store' post offices leaving local communities without easy access to a post office. This has hit the elderly and infirm the hardest. From Swindon to Sittingborne, Taunton to Witney, in-house post offices have been closed by Tesco. In Hampton recently, despite strong reassurances in the past, Tesco has announced the closure of the post office it houses in its store.
• As a result of Tesco taking over two convenience store chains, residents living near these shops are having to get used to multiple, noisy, polluting ‘Just-in-Time’ deliveries. In Kew, residents near a local store converted to a Tesco Express hear deliveries form 6am to 11pm, which also block streets and cause local pollution. Libby Mitchell, a local resident, stated that “The noise is constant and the traffic has changed completely”.
The New Economics Foundation recently published their ‘clone town’ Britain survey, which describes the process of decline in diversity and choice for shoppers once big chain stores get hold of a high street. With Tesco plans to open more than 100 new stores in 2005 alone, the potential for ‘clone town’ spread is high.