PLANS to open another Sainsbury’s store in East Oxford have shocked traders, who fear rivalry between supermarket giants in the city is spiralling out of control.

Only eight weeks after Sainsbury’s submitted plans to open a store on the Plain roundabout, the company confirmed it is opening another store just a short distance along Cowley Road.

The new store, almost across the road from Tesco’s Cowley Road supermarket, signals a fresh intensity in what is now viewed as a local supermarkets’ war.

And nearby shopkeepers fear they will be the main victims, as Tesco and Sainsbury’s continue to seek and acquire new sites in and around the city.

Avtar Singh only opened his new food shop, Oxford Convenience Store, in May. He said he did not relish having both Sainsbury’s and Tesco as neighbours. “How can you compete selling groceries? But this will affect everything.”

Mehrban Mohd, owner of the Eastern & Continental food store, across the road from Tesco, said: “The prospect of two Sainsbury’s stores in the area is a big problem. What is going on with these people. It is not right. It should not be allowed to happen. It really is the worst of times for everyone here. I have been here since 1977. It is going to be difficult to survive.”

Domenico Iorio, owner of the Il Principe Italian Delicatessen, said Sainsbury’s plans would cast a shadow even over specialist outlets in East Oxford. “We already have a big Tesco store here. But Sainsbury’s put more Italian food and wines in their stores. For me it is very bad. It is already a struggle.”

Sainsbury’s decision to apply for permission to open a store on the site of the former Threshers wine shop on the Plain earlier provoked protests from traders who said they would be forced out of business. It emerged this week that Sainsbury’s has already acquired Tyndale House, a large site on Cowley Road.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said, “The new convenience store will provide local people with quality, fresh, affordable food within walking distance of their homes and for those needing to top up their shopping. Work on our other new Sainsbury’s Local in St Clements is progressing well and is still on track to open in early November.”

Erica Steinhauer, of Bead Games, who is shortly to leave Cowley Road, said: ”We really have now got supermarket wars here. It is terrible news.” Tesco recently opened stores in Botley, St Aldate’s and Magdalen Street.But the company faced strong opposition from local shopkeepers to its proposals to open a new store on the site of the former Fox and Hounds pub in Abingdon Road, who warned they would be squeezed out if the plan went ahead. Two planning applications to for a Tesco Express store were rejected in the summer.Anti-Tesco campaigners last week urged the company to drop plans to build a store in Marston on the site of the boarded-up Friar pub, after that scheme was rejected by councillors. It is unclear how much of the large block in Cowley Road will be taken up by Sainsbury’s. Blockbuster Video and a music shop are sited in the block.Sainsbury’s is yet to submit a planning application. But a notice has been put up outside the building to say that Sainsbury’s is applying for a licence to sell alcohol.