Today's Extra, Farnborough

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Address: Queens Road, Farnborough, GU14 6JR

todays

Colourful fruit & veg piled up on stands outside this large Today’s Extra store in Farnborough made a great first impression, with crates of fresh ginger, Granny Smiths and button mushrooms.

The symbol

Flexibility is the biggest benefit for retailers who join Today’s, says the mutual.

“Flexibility is built into our model, and it is entirely the retailer’s choice as to what level of involvement they want,” it says. Negotiating on their behalf with the biggest grocery brands, “these deals are then passed on to retail customers to be promoted in-store to the end consumer”, with new promotional activity every three weeks.

Other benefits include modern signage, expert guidance, planned store layouts and range positioning, and access to in-store tech, including beacon technology. “Today’s is very different from other symbol groups,” it says.

“We look for partners who share our commitment to giving their community value, convenience and a personal kind of customer service.” For retailers who choose to sign up, the results can be “business transforming” with a redevelopment scheme “second to none.”

Inside, the store was spacious, well stocked and tidy, with a decent range of basics stocked alongside more specialist bakery and meat products to cater for the local Polish community, including plenty of curled up biała kiełbasa sausages in the freezer.

These frozen options couldn’t make up for the lack of chilled meals so the chilled lasagne was substituted for a Young’s Admiral’s frozen fish pie. There was also a very small food-to-go selection. Cheese, butter and milk nearly filled up the sizeable refrigeration unit.

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No such issue arose in finding a bottle of Blossom Hill, however, with a big booze selection given its own space towards the rear of the store, offering a great range of wines, beers and spirits, many heavily discounted.

The store proved relatively popular with locals during the lunchtime rush, however, and with only one till and one member of staff on hand to cope, there was a short wait before being served. The cheap final bill arguably made up for the delay, though.

FOOD TO GO OFFER

todays food

Following a colourful display of fresh produce outside this store, the sight of only three or four sandwiches languishing in a seriously sparse chilled section was disappointing. From the choices available we selected a (pretty dry) cheese salad-filled baguette (£1.49), with 50p knocked off the price, before heading deeper into the store for some exciting add-ons. Alas no thought had been put into creating an interesting lunchtime meal, leaving us with a pack of crisps (49p) and a soft drink (85p).