Tesco Extra in Ipswich netted this week's top store award in a week where customer service and availability were hit and miss for the supermarkets.

The store boasted strong availability and a neat layout that was unobstructed by the shelf-stacking trolleys around the fruit and veg aisles. There were plenty of staff, one of whom helped our shopper find the olives. The "very pleasant" checkout assistant greeted our shopper and made polite conversation about Red Nose Day.

Availability was also strong at Morrisons in Acton and the negative impression created by a rude deli assistant was mitigated by a polite checkout assistant offering to pack our shopper's bags.

Waitrose had one out-of-stock item but the store was tidy and the items were easy to locate. There were not enough tills open and a very quiet checkout assistant barely spoke to our shopper.

There was also one out-of-stock in Sainsbury's in Tamworth, which again did not have enough checkouts open. Although the store was clean, abandoned shelf-stacking trolleys cluttered the aisles. There was also a five-minute queue at the deli counter and several areas, including the fruit and veg aisle, looked low in stock.

Asda had two out-of-stocks and although the store was very busy, plenty of tills were open. The checkout assistant was friendly but did not offer to pack.



Winner: Simon Thomas, store manager, Tesco Extra, Ipswich

What products are selling particularly well at the moment? We have seen a shift back to traditional shopping. Customers are buying more home-baking items, such as oils and herbs, than before. Also, our impulse-buy discount brands, such as biscuits and household items, including large packs of tissues and toilet rolls, are doing well.

How is your online service faring? It varies week on week. On average it accounts for 6.5%-7% of sales. It's a popular service and is rapidly growing. We have seven delivery vans at the moment, though there are no immediate plans to get any more.

If you could change one thing about your store, what would it be? I would like to improve the car park. We are located on a busy interchange on the A14/A12 and the entrance and exit can get very congested at times. We are looking at how we can make it easier for customers to access the store.

What are your everyday management challenges? Keeping the team motivated and ensuring our customers receive a high level of customer service. I am fairly open to suggestions and people's ideas that will help the business within the boundaries of head office. It is important that the staff understand why we are here.

How do you and your staff socialise outside work? We have an active social club and will be having a ball this summer. We also recently ran a party for the staff's children, which went down really well.

Who is your biggest competitor? Asda, because the one around here is a similar size and has roughly the same amount of food and non-food items. We compete well, though.

When was the store last in the papers? Just last week. We were picked as one of the stores to launch Tesco's charity of the year - the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. The mayor and press visited as well as the daughter of one of our shoppers who has the condition.

Tell me about the stock-reduction programme. It's been going well since we launched it at Christmas. We have worked hard to reduce the stock levels and it has had a huge impact on productivity.

Topics