Why open a store in a town where the residents clearly don't want you?

Over 5,500 of the 8,000 residents of Totnes have signed a petition to prevent Costa opening a coffee shop in their town, so why are Costa going ahead with it?

With 41 independent coffee shops the beverage is big business in Totnes. Costa would be the first chain to open it's it's doors in the town, but who will be walking through them?

Tourists.

Over 120,000 of them visit each year making it clear why big brands would like to get in on the action. But part of what makes the town popular with visitors is the fact that it doesn't feature a high street full of the same shops you see everywhere else in Britain.

Tourists like Totnes for it's selection of independent and unique shops so much, that bigger businesses want to muscle their way in to the town against the wishes of it's residents and in doing so spoil the very thing that made it special in the first place.