2014年经济学人 小型食品店 美味的熟食

Boutique food shops

Deli-licious

As supermarkets flounder, small food and drink retailers³ are booming

Chi-chi cheese

INVESTORS⁴ in Tesco, Britain's largest supermarket chain, could be forgiven for weeping into their Christmas pud this month. On December 9th the retailer² issued its fourth profit warning in five months, cutting its full-year trading forecast by almost a third. Shares plunged⁵ (again), topping off a dreadful year for the former darling of the City. Tesco's only solace⁶ is that it is only doing marginally worse now than its direct competitors, such as Sainsbury's and Morrison's.

There is no need for solace at the Keelham Farm Shop, on the outskirts⁷ ofBradford, however. Here it is mulled wine and treats all round, as Victoria Robertshaw, the co-owner, celebrates another fine year and big plans for the future. Founded in the early 1970s, Keelham was one of the country's first modern farm shops, selling meat, vegetables and much else, but only from the family farm or from other local producers. Its growth has been spectacular.

In 2006, Keelham had a turnover⁸ of ￡2m, already large for a farm shop. Today that figure is over ￡11m, and achieved in one of the less prosperous parts of the country. Such is the demand that Ms Robertshaw is investing ￡4m next year in opening a much larger Keelham's in Skipton, a nearby town. Her new outlet⁹ will also boast a cooking school and a café. Much of what it will sell, such as sausages, will be made on site.

The expansion of Keelham's reflects the robust¹⁰ health of the country's boutique food-and-drink business. There are about 4,000 such businesses today, and more are opening all the time. The National Farmers' Retail¹ and Markets Association, which represents about 300 farm shops, says that many members have reported a 5-10% increase in turnover this year.

Some analysts¹¹ expected the burgeoning¹² sector¹³ of small food-and-drink companies to be decimated by the financial crash of 2008. Surely tasty treats from the local deli would be the first casualties as household budgets were slashed¹⁴. In fact, the reverse has happened. The sector has not only survived, but prospered¹⁵, partly due to the change in shopping habits provoked by that same recession.

After 2008 many consumers started shopping at cheaper supermarkets, such as Aldi and Lidl. Customers also started buying in bulk online. However, in contrast to previous downturns, says Hugh Padfield, a director of the Bath Soft Cheese Company, this time people continue to buy basic products at the cheapest price, and spend the money they save on products that are better quality, like his own renowned¹⁶ Bath Blue cheese.

This sort of “promiscuous shopping”, as the analysts call it, is replacing the traditional once-a-week trip to an out-of-town Tesco or Sainsbury's. Those retailers are therefore being squeezed by Aldi and Lidl undercutting them and the farm shops taking business away at the top end, albeit¹⁷ still on a modest scale. Small producers like Mr Padfield are doing very nicely; he has tripled his turnover in just five years, to ￡750,000, and will struggle to meet all his orders for Christmas. Ms Robertshaw says her prices are not more expensive than those of the supermarkets, putting her produce within range of most shoppers.

Another essential ingredient in the success of the small producers is the increasing demand for locally sourced food. After various scandals inBritain's food production, from “mad-cow disease” to the discovery of horse meat in some products, consumers are much more concerned to know where their food comes from, and how it was produced.

Farm shops and delis thus stress the local content of their food in a way that supermarkets, with their central distributions systems, usually cannot. “Provenance is really important now,” says Asad Khan, who has recently set up a luxury ice-cream business in London, called Snowflake. The fact that his gelati are all made of the best quality British milk and are prepared in the store is a large part of Snowflake's appeal. Mr Khan has seen his turnover more than double in two years of business. He even sells pricey tubs of ice-cream that customers would previously¹⁸ have bought only from a supermarket.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

3 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

6 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

7 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

8 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

9 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

10 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

13 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

14 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 prospered   

成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Mr. Black prospered from his wise investments. 布莱克先生由于巧妙的投资赚了不少钱。

16 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

17 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

18 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。