Retail giant has finally extended to Western Isles, but it won�t be opening on Sundays, writes David Ross

If you build it, they will come. And they did. As first days go, it wasn't half bad. By the time Stornoway's shiny new Tesco store closed its doors last night about 50% of the population - some 4000 islanders - had crossed the threshold.

And they came not just from the town.

It was an early start for Donald and Joy MacDonald. They left their home, a guest house in the south of Harris, at 6.15am to drive the 56 miles to Stornoway. Their mission: to get their monthly shopping done and dusted and get home to Leverburgh as fast as possible - just in case anyone was seeking bed and breakfast.

They were first in the queue for the store's 8am opening, final conformation that Tesco's reach has at last extended across the waters of the Minch with its first store in the Western Isles. Now, at last, it truly could be said that the supermarket chain covers every postcode in the UK.

Corporate flags fluttered in the healthy breeze announcing in Gaelic that the store was open: "Fosgailte A Nis". The latest - and furthest flung - outpost of an empire with 1900 stores in the UK which employs 250,000 people.

According to Mr MacDonald, its arrival in Lewis will be warmly welcomed: "There are high hopes for Tesco here, because prices have become ridiculous. We were paying £1.82 for a large carton of milk; now it's £1.58. The Co-op needs the competition and Tesco is a good store. I have got my Clubcard already."

He just hoped that, through time, Tesco would also start supplying fuel. He wasn't alone. Yesterday a taxi driver reported that the last time he checked, diesel was retailing at the Inverness Tesco at 131.9p a litre while in Stornoway outlets it was 146.9p.

By opening time there were about 50 eager shoppers in the queue, but despite their early efforts the MacDonalds were not the first through the doors. A nifty piece of trolley work meant that Christine Munro and her 11-year-old son Nathan Lloyd from Newmarket near Stornoway overtook them on the inside. Why had they come so early?

"He was determined to get Tiger Bread. You can't get it anywhere else and he loves it," explained Mrs Munro.

It was almost as though Stornoway had come of retail age with the arrival of Tesco. Nobody was in any doubt that competition would be good and there was a firm consensus that the local Co-op, the only supermarket in town for the last few months, had increased its prices over the past couple of months. Indeed Bob Milne, number eight in the queue, confidently predicted: "The Co-op is out now that Tesco is here."

Judging by yesterday, he may have a point. By 8.15am there must have been 150 in the Tesco store. "Nearer 200," a Tesco company spokesman said. The car park was 70% full, but down at the Co-op there were only two shoppers.

However, a spokeswoman for the Co-op said: "We have enjoyed serving the island for the past 70 years and as a result have a very loyal customer base. The Co-operative competes against all the major multiples at locations across the UK and our prices in the Macaulay Road Stornoway store are the same as in our mainland stores of a similar size.

"We look forward to continuing to serve the local community by providing an excellent choice of products and customer service for many more years to come."

Leigh Sparks, professor of retail studies at Stirling University, said of yesterday's Tesco opening: "It represents in many ways the final integration of the whole of Scotland into a national and international retail system.

"Tesco has been very successful by giving consumers what they want, and that has driven its size. Although there is a national pricing strategy, the products in one store will clearly differ from another store.

They will take Clubcard data and learn what the consumers are buying. That is something that is quite distinctive.

"If they try to put down a standard store in Stornoway it isn't going to work. They are clever enough to know that they cannot do that."

Tesco is still growing in the UK and abroad. It opens two stores in the US every week, and Stornoway completed a hat-trick of island stores opened in the last fortnight.

The Northern and Western Isles held the last three of Scotland's 16 postcode regions without a Tesco superstore, but in March the retail juggernaut announced they would be added to the Tesco list.

The purchase of Somerfield stores in Lerwick, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Ullapool meant the final pieces of the jigsaw were in place. Lerwick and Kirkwall opened over the last fortnight and yesterday was Stornoway's turn.

All 91 staff employed by Somerfield have been retained and another 56 new jobs created. One extension has already been approved and another is being planned for Stornoway. However, it won't be opening on Sundays out of respect for the local Sabbatarian tradition.

Still, there would be appear to be a market for six days at least. Stornoway has a population of around 5600. But almost 30% of the total population of the Western Isles, some 8000 people, live either within it or in its immediate vicinity.

Melinda Gillen, editor the Stornoway Gazette, is sure the local goodwill is there. She said: "The community has really been looking forward to Tesco opening. For the past six to eight weeks we have only had the one supermarket, the Co-op.

"I think most people believe the competition that Tesco will offer will be welcome and hopefully mean lower prices. Tesco is looking to build an extension and bring in household goods as well as food and that would be welcomed."

Jon Merriman, manager of the Stornoway store, said the range of products on offer had been extended to almost 12,000. He said it would stock and display separately locally produced items such as those from the local bakery. Other fresh produce would be shipped on the ferry from Ullapool. "It is quite a logistical feat, but it means we can guarantee same-day freshness for our customers."

By the middle of the afternoon the company reckoned they had served 3000 customers, and most appeared happy.

Tesco's share of the UK grocery market is currently around 31.2%. It is followed by Asda, then Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

In February the Competition Commission published proposals to stop the "big four" chains from bullying out rivals. The commission included a package of measures aimed at putting a stop to so-called land banking - the practice of buying up land near a store to keep competitors away.

Last week Tesco won the latest round in its fight for a controversial superstore and retail development in the west end of Glasgow.

The report of a public local inquiry decided in favour of the supermarket giant, which plans a 6500 square metre superstore as well as accommodation for 653 students, 220 private flats and leisure facilities on derelict land on Beith Street at Partick Cross.

Last week the Co-op, which was the market leader in the late 1950s and early 1960s, agreed a £1.56bn takeover of rival Somerfield. The deal will cement the Co-op's place as Britain's fifth biggest food retailer.

Professor Sparks said that Tesco is currently "stronger" than the Co-op was at its peak. However, he said: "It is not say that people cannot fall out of love with them. Size can bring its problems."