Culture & SocietyAdvantages & DisadvantagesIntermediateHigh Frequency

IELTS Essay General Training: Supermarkets and Small Shops

Prompt

Many large supermarkets are being built today while the number of small shops is decreasing. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

#retail consolidation#small business preservation#consumer convenience#employment#urban vitality#economic centralization

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Band 7 → 9 — Band 7 weighs convenience/price benefits of supermarkets against loss of community/small business, while Band 9 recognizes this reflects deeper shifts in consumer priorities and asks whether the decline of small shops is inevitable or policy-driven.

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Key concepts in this essay

economies of scale
community cohesion
labor dynamics
consumer preferences
economic resilience vs efficiency

Pitfalls the model essay avoids

Romanticizing small shops without addressing why consumers prefer supermarkets (price, convenience, selection)
Ignoring employment impact in both directions (supermarkets create jobs, small shop closures eliminate them)
Not considering that supermarkets do provide genuine benefits (food security, lower prices)

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