Winner: Tesco Extra Osterley
Store manager: Bob Knight
Opened: 1995
Market share: 12.3%
Size: 86,000 sq ft
Nearest rivals: Morrisons - 1 mile; Waitrose - 2.1 miles; Sainsbury’s - 2.3 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000
Congratulations. Why do you think your store won? I think a lot of it is down to Philip Clarke’s new business plan and the investment in the store, which meant we get more than £4,000 a week extra to put more people on the shop floor. That’s the equivalent of 14 or 15 full-time employees.
You started out as an in-store butcher for Tesco. What did you make of Mary Portas saying out-of-town Tesco stores had killed the quality high street butchers? All I would say is that the training we give to our butchers now is better than it ever has been and so is their product knowledge.
Do you keep a special eye on the meat counter? I call the meat counter, the bakery and the fishmongers in-store our store heroes and I’m very lucky to have some really good people running them.
Most of your customers are Asian. How do you cater to their needs? We’ve got a 70% Asian customer base and we’ve done a lot to increase the ranges of Asian food. We recently gave our Asian frozen range 50% more space in store and it’s had a really good impact, leading to 5% more sales across the whole of frozen, which was previously in negative performance.
Do you have any special events coming up for Asian customers? We have Ramadan coming up and we will be giving over one of our power aisles to it but it’s also very important that our staff are trained and know what Ramadan is all about.
Is the multicultural aspect the biggest thing about working in London? The cultural differences is one thing but people in London also shop later - the stores are so much busier in the evenings.
The store is just around the corner from the Sky TV HQ. Do you get many celebrities coming in? We get loads of them. I’m an Arsenal fan and I keep seeing Paul Merson, who goes back to my era, but at the end of the day he’s a customer so I still give him some space.
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