Tesco’s huge new Extra in Slough has all local needs totally covered. Liz Hamson reports
At first glance, Tesco’s new Extra in Slough looks more like a warehouse than a supermarket. The trademark red and blue fascia is the only embellishment to the 190,000 sq ft behemoth. Attractive it isn’t. But inside the fourth and largest Tesco on stilts, it is anything but dull.
The store, a redevelopment of an old Tesco superstore that closed in January, opened to local uproar on August 1, a day after Tesco closed the old Co-op store it had been trading from during the interim. “Traffic chaos as new shop opens” raged the front page of the Slough and Langley Observer as it blamed the multiple for the traffic gridlock.
It didn’t help that 19,000 shoppers descended on the store in one day, but traffic-calming was swiftly introduced and by Thursday, customer numbers had settled to a more manageable 16,000.
The Grocer visited on Friday and at 11am the store was already getting busy. With 13 concessions, only a handful of which are open, it feels like a department store and boasts 146,000 sq ft of retail space, 101,000 sq ft of which is devoted purely to Tesco. Around 40% of the Tesco space is non-food, 40% food and 20% services.
The main access is from the car park via a travelator, escalator or elevators and there is also access via a footbridge at the front of the store. Enter via the travelator and you reach the store to be greeted by very little in the way of signage.Once in the store, however, it is easy to navigate. “One of the key features of the store is the emphasis on space,” says store manager Richard Wilcock. “We’ve got huge, wide aisles traversing the store up and across. We’re trying to keep things in separate worlds so product groups are kept to one aisle. We’re trying to make shopping trips easier.”
The non-food offer has been consolidated into one area by the main entrance. The idea is that shoppers shouldn’t feel compelled to trawl through the section before hitting grocery. Conversely, if they only want to shop non-food - and Wilcock is confident that a lot of destination shoppers will be enticed in over the weekend by ranges including a £397 “back to school” computer package - they can. In the first few days, non-food generated around 28-29% of the store’s sales, but Wilcock expects that to rise to around 50%.
The non-food features an early sighting of the multiple’s new autumn fashion range, and there’s a full aisle of greetings cards and giftwrap. Wilcock says: “We’re looking to be the leader in each product group. This range of greetings cards would combat anything the other major card shops would offer.”
Worryingly for local Asian traders, the range of cards includes an Asian selection. Tesco has introduced top Bollywood titles to its DVD range and Asian lines to its health and beauty range, while grocery boasts a 500-strong World Foods range. There is also an aisle for bulk Asian goods.
Wilcock says of the world food range: “The main feedback from customers was that there wasn’t enough range, pack sizes weren’t big enough, the prices weren’t competitive and we didn’t stock some of the key brands. It is the blueprint of what is going on in the UK and we’ll roll it out if successful.”
Tesco has also been canny in its recruitment strategy and upwards of 65% of the staff are Asian to reflect the customer base, most of whom live within a 15-minute drive of the store.
But it is not just the Asian and other local independents that will be anxious about Tesco’s arrival. High street retailers are also in the line of fire. “We’re doing something very different on the back wall,” explains Wilcock. “We’re using the digi-centre, pharmacy and opticians to create shops within a shop.”
Within the next three weeks, 12 of 13 concessions will open including a second joint venture with Nutricentre (a Krispy Kreme opens in October).
It’s early days and Tesco hasn’t got everything right. Wilcock is not happy with the bulk goods aisle and there have been availability issues with some Asian lines. But it is getting there - it has improved the signage, for instance. And with 65,484 customers in the second week alone, local traders may well see the store as the “friendly bomb” that finally fell on Slough.
At first glance, Tesco’s new Extra in Slough looks more like a warehouse than a supermarket. The trademark red and blue fascia is the only embellishment to the 190,000 sq ft behemoth. Attractive it isn’t. But inside the fourth and largest Tesco on stilts, it is anything but dull.
The store, a redevelopment of an old Tesco superstore that closed in January, opened to local uproar on August 1, a day after Tesco closed the old Co-op store it had been trading from during the interim. “Traffic chaos as new shop opens” raged the front page of the Slough and Langley Observer as it blamed the multiple for the traffic gridlock.
It didn’t help that 19,000 shoppers descended on the store in one day, but traffic-calming was swiftly introduced and by Thursday, customer numbers had settled to a more manageable 16,000.
The Grocer visited on Friday and at 11am the store was already getting busy. With 13 concessions, only a handful of which are open, it feels like a department store and boasts 146,000 sq ft of retail space, 101,000 sq ft of which is devoted purely to Tesco. Around 40% of the Tesco space is non-food, 40% food and 20% services.
The main access is from the car park via a travelator, escalator or elevators and there is also access via a footbridge at the front of the store. Enter via the travelator and you reach the store to be greeted by very little in the way of signage.Once in the store, however, it is easy to navigate. “One of the key features of the store is the emphasis on space,” says store manager Richard Wilcock. “We’ve got huge, wide aisles traversing the store up and across. We’re trying to keep things in separate worlds so product groups are kept to one aisle. We’re trying to make shopping trips easier.”
The non-food offer has been consolidated into one area by the main entrance. The idea is that shoppers shouldn’t feel compelled to trawl through the section before hitting grocery. Conversely, if they only want to shop non-food - and Wilcock is confident that a lot of destination shoppers will be enticed in over the weekend by ranges including a £397 “back to school” computer package - they can. In the first few days, non-food generated around 28-29% of the store’s sales, but Wilcock expects that to rise to around 50%.
The non-food features an early sighting of the multiple’s new autumn fashion range, and there’s a full aisle of greetings cards and giftwrap. Wilcock says: “We’re looking to be the leader in each product group. This range of greetings cards would combat anything the other major card shops would offer.”
Worryingly for local Asian traders, the range of cards includes an Asian selection. Tesco has introduced top Bollywood titles to its DVD range and Asian lines to its health and beauty range, while grocery boasts a 500-strong World Foods range. There is also an aisle for bulk Asian goods.
Wilcock says of the world food range: “The main feedback from customers was that there wasn’t enough range, pack sizes weren’t big enough, the prices weren’t competitive and we didn’t stock some of the key brands. It is the blueprint of what is going on in the UK and we’ll roll it out if successful.”
Tesco has also been canny in its recruitment strategy and upwards of 65% of the staff are Asian to reflect the customer base, most of whom live within a 15-minute drive of the store.
But it is not just the Asian and other local independents that will be anxious about Tesco’s arrival. High street retailers are also in the line of fire. “We’re doing something very different on the back wall,” explains Wilcock. “We’re using the digi-centre, pharmacy and opticians to create shops within a shop.”
Within the next three weeks, 12 of 13 concessions will open including a second joint venture with Nutricentre (a Krispy Kreme opens in October).
It’s early days and Tesco hasn’t got everything right. Wilcock is not happy with the bulk goods aisle and there have been availability issues with some Asian lines. But it is getting there - it has improved the signage, for instance. And with 65,484 customers in the second week alone, local traders may well see the store as the “friendly bomb” that finally fell on Slough.
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