Asda Victoria Centre, Crewe: Grocer 33 store of the week

Your store dates back to the 1970s. Have you modernised it recently? Yes. Last year we revamped our chilled food section with new refrigeration systems. It’s made a massive difference and really helped improve availability. We also had a state-of-the-art standalone George unit put in.

How else are you modernising your operations? We have a very big online operation considering the size of the store and we recently added an eighth van. We’ve done a lot of work with our picking operation to make sure it’s not disruptive to the in-store shopping experience.

Has that meant taking on new staff? Yes, we’ve probably taken on about 40 new colleagues this year, all in online. Consumers are expecting more and more so it’s really an ever-growing part of our operation - it certainly hasn’t peaked yet. It’s a huge change for me as a manager and you have to be able to adapt. Ten years ago there were a lot more managers around, and a lot less technology.

What is the best deal for the busy seasonal period coming up? I think one of our best deals is for fireworks. We are selling two £15 packs for £20 and two £30 packs for £40, which is a really great deal.

What are you most pleased with as a manager about the store’s performance? The two most important things are the close support I’ve been getting from my store leadership team, my section leaders and section managers, which has been great. But we have also been performing really well for service as a whole store in Asda’s ‘easy, fast and friendly’ mystery shopping process. We’ve had seven or eight 100% scores, which reflects well on how friendly the service is in store. It’s important to be easy, fast and friendly for shoppers, but I think Asda colleagues are particularly well known for being friendly and that’s what I think pleases customers the most.