New ASDA may not be that bad

MADAM - I see that the supporters of the flat earth society are warning the end of the world as we know it if ASDA is allowed to build a store in the town.
As a former Daniels employee I would inevitably be disappointed to see the history of this once great firm obliterated by so called progress.
And the 250 lowly paid mainly unskilled jobs will be a sad replacement of the 700 highly paid skilled jobs which were lost long ago from the site.
But I put pen to paper to challenge the assertions that Stroud will suffer as a result of another supermarket opening.
Personally,  I would never use ASDA on ethical grounds and therefore the only likely benefit to me is that Sainsbury's will be less congested as some shoppers opt for the new store.
Consequently. the main impact is likely be on other supermarkets rather then the town's shops.
The death of Stroud's high street has been a topic of newspaper speculation talking down the town for over a century.
For example, in 1907 the scaremongering threat to the town was the popularity of the co-operative movement, so much so that the Stroud News (then a Tory rag in competition with the more responsible and measured Liberal Stroud Journal) used to run virulent campaigns against individual co-operators and shops.
I rarely use town centre shops (apart from one or two takeaways) simply because they are closed when I go to work and are also closed when I get back from work.
Another problem is that my gentleman's outfitters and tailors (M&S) doesn't have a branch in the town and therefore the town also looses my fashion pound - if you can call buying the same cut of trousers for 20 years fashion.
Supermarkets and out of town shops over the last 20 or 30 years often trade on Sundays and in the evenings. And I confess to enjoying the environment of a shopping mall on a mid-week evening shop!
Meanwhile, shops continue with the pattern of opening hours imposed during the 1940s as an emergency wartime measure.
Perhaps the solution to the crisis for the town centre retail trade is in the hands of the town's shopkeepers rather than the planners?