It's been described as like Christmas every day in our supermarkets which are facing huge demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dotted about the city, we have been guilty of taking them for granted in the past. Now many of us are relying on them, alongside all the smaller shops providing our essential needs at this time.

But there was once a time when none of them existed, and something completely different occupied the land they have taken over.

We've taken a look back at what was there before Swansea's big supermarkets arrived.

Tesco

Tesco built a £13.5 million pound new store off Oystermouth Road in Swansea City Centre in February, 2000.

The 65,000 sq ft development took on 350 full and part time workers when it threw open its doors, replacing a former gas works.

Gas holders alongside Oystermouth Road in July, 1989. From the book Forgotten Faces of Swansea by David Roberts
Construction of the new Tesco superstore there in 1999
Work on site

Production at the site dates back to 1841 when Swansea Gas Light Company began making gas by burning coal.

After the site stopped producing gas in 1922, the facility was used for gas distribution until 1949 and then as a gas operations centre.

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The supermarket chain bought the land in April, 1999, and spent £1.3 million clearing the site. At the time, we reported how, acre for acre, it had been described as the most valuable land in Wales, west of Cardiff.

Tesco has since opened up a number of stores in the city on retail parks, including its Fforestfach store in 2001 in the spot of the former Fforest Hotel.

The old Fforest Hotel in Fforestfach pictured being demolished
A B&Q store used to sit in the spot where Tesco in Llansamlet is located now

Sears Property Development had bought the site where the hotel once sat for £1.3 million in 1998.

The supermarket chain then opened its huge Llansamlet store in 2006. Before it opened, there was a smaller Tesco there, and before that, the space was occupied by B&Q, which in turn replaced Dodge City.

Asda

Asda officially opened its doors at Upper Fforest Way in Morriston on July 5, 1999.

The site had been home to Morganite Electrical Carbon, which sold off a huge chunk of its Morriston site in 1995 for the store to be built.

Huge machines clear the Morganite site at Morriston ready for the construction of ASDA's new superstore in 1999
An aerial view of huge machines clearing the Morganite site
An artist's impression of the Asda store at the time

Asda closed its then Trallwn store, transferring the 320 staff whilst taking on 100 more.

The 50,000 sq ft development cost £14.3 million, and took 20 weeks to construct.

Sainsbury's

Sainsburys opened in the city's Quay Parade back in 1985.

It replaced the imposing Weaver & Company Limited building, which was a flour mill and corn storage facility served by the half-tide basin of the North Dock.

Opened in August, 1898, and referred to as the 'Victoria Flour Mills', the building was designed and built by the French engineer Francois Hennebique in 1897.

Weavers Flour Mill just before demolition in the 1970s. Now the site of Sainsbury's Quay Parade
Sainsbury's pictured in 2000

It was the first building in Europe which was made from reinforced concrete, or 'ferro-concrete', a combination of concrete and steel in order to utilise the strengths of each material.

In 1941 the building incredibly survived two Second World War bombings. It proved to be destructible in 1984 when it was demolished, although with "considerable difficulty" according to the historian Gary Gregor.

Morrisons

Morrisons officially opened its doors at Morfa Retail Park on October 25, 2004.

The 87,000 square foot store became the Yorkshire-based chain's 170th UK outlet and the fifth to open in south Wales at the time.

The store, and the wider retail park itself, was built where the former Morfa Stadium once stood.

The Morrisons store in Morfa Retail Park pictured shortly after it opened
The old Morfa Stadium

The facility once featured a fully-sized pitch, where various sports would be played, and an athletics track.

It was used as a residential training facility for Swansea Harriers Athletics Club, which has produced numerous local, national, international, Commonwealth, Olympic and world competitors.

Lidl

The Lidl store at Trallwn Road in Swansea

Lidl in Trallwn Road in Swansea opened up in 1999, directly replacing Asda when it moved to its new base in Morriston.

The new 9,000 square feet store was built on part of the old store's car park.