Who we visited


midcounties Co-op New Road, Booker, High Wycombe

somerfield The Square, Kenilworth

Londis Morpeth Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Spar Rectory Road, Chelmsford

tesco express Hungerdown Well, Frogwell




How they performed


High shelves gave High Wycombe’s Midcounties Co-op a claustrophobic feel, made worse by its small size. Otherwise, the store was clean and tidy and checkout staff packed for our customer. The Co-op was the only store this week not to deliver a full basket of goods, with our shopper unable to buy catfood, tea bags or a Mars bar in the sizes she required.

Despite its small size, the Newcastle Londis was one of four stores this week to supply the full basket of goods. Our shopper praised the logical layout and helpful staff in the store, which was well stocked and well looked after.

Kenilworth’s Somerfield store provided our shopper with a full basket, and was generally clean and well stocked. Despite narrow aisles, the store was easy to get around, partly because the shelf stackers avoided using trolleys. Staff were helpful and packed for our shopper without prompting. The slightly confusing layout and a limited bakery range were this store’s only negatives.

The Chelmsford Spar was less impressive: rubbish and boxes littered the aisles and the store was generally untidy – perhaps because of the influx of extra customers from the nearby V Festival. Though our customer needed a member of staff to guide her to the teabags, which were hidden near the alcohol section, the store was, however, easy to navigate. 

Our shopper’s full basket belied sparsely stocked shelves in Frogwell’s unkempt Tesco Express. Products were easy to find, however, and customer service was good, with polite staff opening an extra checkout to deal with queues.