A full trolley, no queues and “excellent” staff helped Waitrose in Lewes net our top store award, in a week where availability and customer service was a mixed bag.

Our shopper was particularly impressed with one assistant who not only escorted her to the Peperami, but then asked her if she needed any more help. Then when she joined a short checkout queue, a polite assistant opened another till and called her over.

Availability was also strong at Sainsbury's Shiremoor branch, although several items were difficult to locate. Staff were busy shelf stacking, but they were careful not to clutter the aisles and plenty of tills were open.

Unhelpful staff and one out-of-stock item disappointed at Morrisons. Our shopper had to ask an assistant three times to help him locate the bread, who eventually asked a colleague to help.

Three out-of-stock items let Tesco in Brockworth down, while bits of cardboard and abandoned packing trolleys littered the aisles. However a staff member escorted our items to the olives and the checkout assistant was friendly.

Asda in Ipswich had a whopping five out of stocks, and provided a “frustrating and joyless experience”. Although some staff members were pleasant, when our shopper asked an assistant for directions, his colleague rudely interrupted and started talking about something else.


Winner: Paul Soane, store manager, Waitrose, Lewes

How do you compete with local supermarkets? We have a Tesco nearby and a Sainsbury's in Newhaven. Although Tesco is a bigger store and has a larger non-food offer, we compete well. When the economic downturn hit I thought we would struggle and our shoppers would flock to Tesco, but I couldn’t have been any more wrong. We are above Waitrose’s national sales average and have seen strong year-on-year growth. We see Sainsbury's as Waitrose’s nearest rival and predominantly check our prices against it.

What’s new at your branch? We launched our home delivery service last October and it seems to be going down a treat. We have two delivery lorries and hope to get more in the future, depending on customer demand. We also introduced an automated reducing system in August.

Tell us about that. The Potential Reduction Reporting system is a handset that automatically reduces the price of an item when it is nearing its sell-by date or becomes damaged. It has significantly improved our productivity and reduced waste. 

If you could change one thing about your store, what would it be? I would love to expand in Lewes so we could have more floor space and stock more products. There is definitely demand for it here. It would be great to add a café with tables and chairs outside for when the weather is nice too.

What has been the best new product in the past year? Our range of fresh desserts. They range from tortes to cheesecakes and are definitely one of our stronger-performing areas. We have also been running a meal-deal-for-two offer, which ended last week. For £10, customers could get a ready meal, prepared salad or vegetables, a dessert and a bottle of wine. Forgotten cuts of meat, such as brisket, are also doing well at the moment as shoppers look for cheap but nutritious meal ingredients.

How do you motivate staff? By keeping everything fresh and interesting. Staff are kept motivated by giving them responsibilities and challenges and making sure they are valued and rewarded.

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