Few people bothered by the lack of a hot food counter and pricing satisfactory Sainsbury Local going down a treat in London Graham Simm The first Sainsbury's Local was doing a roaring lunchtime trade when The Grocer visited London's Fulham Palace Road this week, with well over 150 people going through its doors between 12.30 and 1.30pm. Shoppers we quizzed were workers buying snacks or doing top up shopping, and most were pleased with what they had found. "Now there's no need to go to Tesco up at Hammersmith Broadway," said John Prince who was shopping for sandwiches with work colleagues. Nick Firth was enjoying the new selection of sandwiches available to him but "was looking forward to seeing an open deli counter". Few people were bothered by the lack of a hot food counter ­ which would appear to vindicate Sainsbury's decision to ditch plans for a takeaway section. Pricing is also pretty decent, according to pensioner Selick Pershad. "This is much better than the corner shops. A French stick in here costs 39p, around the corner it would cost you 89p." He added: "Local shops have had no sympathy for pensioners for a long time. Now they will have to change what they are doing." Others like Andy Finch had ignored prices, but assumed that Sainsbury was always slightly more expensive than other supermarkets. "I just come here because it's convenient, especially after the pubs close," he said. Few customers were doing a full shop, preferring instead to go to Tesco at Shepherd's Bush, Safeway in the North End Road or Sainsbury at Wandsworth Bridge. "The variety is much better at the larger stores," said Trupti Seth from nearby Charing Cross hospital. "I would do a main shop here but I've got a Tesco very close to home and this is not very good for vegetarian food. It's very convenient for work though." Catherine Cummings, who also works at the hospital, complained: "I wouldn't come here for my main shop, it's very disappointing. "I couldn't find chocolate ginger biscuits and Harvest Crunch that you get in the Wandsworth store and there were no small loaves at all. I might come here if I find myself short of a few basics though." {{NEWS }}

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