Asda Swanley Supercentre, Kent: Grocer 33 store of the week

You are right next to the High Street. How much of an advantage does that give you? The town centre is thriving. We have a big market outside the store every Wednesday, which gives us a big spike in trade.

How are your own fresh food departments performing? We’ve put a huge amount of focus on improving our fresh food quality and availability. Most recently we have added new lines to our in-store bakery.

Is your availability getting better? The big drive has been to improve availability and quality in fresh produce and we’ve been benefiting from the rollout of Asda’s Customer Availability Programme. We are one of Asda’s retail academies and we are now trialling that across ambient produce as well as fresh food.

Are there any other trials ongoing? We are carrying out trials of something called ‘faster facing’ in ambient, which is a more efficient way for us to stock the shelves. In the past, we always used to make sure products were pulled forward like a brick wall at the front of the shelf but customer research tells us that as long as it’s accessible they don’t mind.

Are you looking forward to the madness of the next few weeks? There’s certainly lots coming up. Although we’re not actively participating in Black Friday we will still have lots of great deals. For example we are selling a 50-inch LED TV for £299. We also have a great six for £25 offer on our BWS section.

It’s Budget week. Are the people of Swanley in the mood for cracking open the fizz? I think like lots of places there is a little bit of caution about what’s on the horizon. There’s uncertainty about Brexit and things like interest rates so customers are really looking for value and the best possible deals. Over the past few weeks we’ve sharpened our prices even more and at this time of year it will be more important than ever.