Poor choice at Rye supermarket

Since Budgens was booted out of Jempson’s – almost a month ago now? - we have seen half-empty shelves, dimmed lighting and such an off-loading of choices of mainstream groceries that it has become a sad apology of a supermarket.
By The Newsroom
Published 30th Apr 2014, 10:23 BST

What have the people of Rye done to deserve being deprived of what was before at least a reasonably decent selection of both basic and speciality foodstuffs? Perhaps we are deemed to be no longer worthy of wanting the occasional fresh focaccia or sour dough bread with a box of hot and gooey baked camembert; straight-to-wok egg noodles should be banned from our stir-fries; bread-crumbed prawns and fishcakes with melty cheesy middles must be but distant memories. That there hasn’t been a tot of cheaper own-brand gin to be seen on the shelves in recent weeks is not perhaps a major grievance but it does rankle (to put it mildly); and even the cat and the garden birds haven’t been spared – will I really now have to drive over five miles to find their favourite foods?

As a regular and good customer of many years, I was happy to give Rye Jempson’s a couple of weeks to get their act together, but nothing has changed and there seems to be no hint on the horizon of any improvement. The abundant semi-apologetic notices languishing on the front windows only serve to emphasise this fact, and sadly reaffirm that customers entering the store can expect nothing other than a thoroughly depressing shopping experience.

Carol Kurrein, Jarretts Close, Rye.