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Corner shops might be able to fight back against the rise of supermarket giants like Tesco and Asda.
It seems these days that every bit of vacant land or derelict building in the UK is becoming either yuppie flats or another supermarket.
Like the ancient Greek hydra you get rid of an eyesore and two spring up in its place.
But now franchise chain Spar has decided to bury the hatchet with long term rival the Co-op and, well, co-operate.
The two will club together to buy own brand items like loo roll as well as daily provisions such as milk in a bid to take advantage of the massive ‘economies of scale' (that's bulk buying to you and me) that the big boys get.
Nisa-Today and Costcutter have already merged earlier this year.
Guy McCracken, head of food retail at the Co-operative Group, said: “With increasing consolidation in the sector it makes good commercial sense to build scale and improve our competitive position.
“Spar are long-term players with integrity and I'm convinced there are significant benefits for both of us through this initiative.”
The idea is so simple it should have been done years ago.
But for too long the small fish have been trying to nudge each other into the mouths of the oncoming sharks rather than making a stand together.
Even smaller shops, not part of the bigger Spar and other franchises, can take note.
Groups of three or four independent tradersina small area could band together and force their prices down to compete on a bigger scale.
This sort of action might provide them a way out of the almost inevitable future of everybody buying from and working for either Tesco or Asda (with a few Waitrose dotted about the posh bits and an Aldi here and there).
Of course there's one problem with this.
No-one's suggested it yet but my fear is that if the even smaller players start banding together, two or three at a time in a particular area, their ‘cartel' as it might get labelled will be considered anti-competitive, especially if they all end up with the same prices throughout a village or small town.
So good on Spar and Co-op. It's a super idea. But what about the real little guy? What does this mean for our corner shops? Will the smallest fish be sacrificed to give the medium sized types a more sporting chance?
