Morrisons picked up our latest store of the week crown thanks to a strong performance from a very busy store in St Andrews.
The store scored 79 points on a Friday evening shortly before Scotland’s ill-fated Euro 2024 opener against Germany. As well as those gearing up for the football, there were also extra Father’s Day shoppers and more visitors to the university town for a graduation ceremony.
This led to a longer-than-usual wait at the till and our shopper felt more manned checkouts should have been open. However, this was her only complaint. Although there were four not-stocked items, availability was strong, with no out-of-stocks.
Staff were doing their best to keep shelves topped up and managed to do so without causing obstruction. When called upon, staff were very friendly and all seemed happy to go out of their way to try and help.
Her trip was rounded off perfectly by the checkout assistant, who “despite the pressure from such a busy store was cheerful”.
Our runner-up this week was at the other end of the UK. Sainsbury’s store in Poole, Dorset notched up 70 points. It provided our shopper with 32 items – the Princes black cherry fruit filling was not stocked. As with Morrisons, there was a lot of restocking taking place, and here too staff did so without getting in the way of shoppers. However, this may have had more to do with the fact the store was very quiet at the time.
This may explain why none of the regular checkouts were open, which meant our shopper had to use the self-scan machines. Shop floor staff were helpful and friendly and it was only the lack of checkout operators that prevented the store challenging for the win.
There was a big drop to third-placed Waitrose. Its Kensington High Street store managed just 56 points, with availability the biggest challenge. Our shopper only managed to bag 26 items with four out-of-stocks and three not-stocked items. The store was clean and well presented. It was busy and our shopper enjoyed some tastings with “pleasant, welcoming staff”.
When called upon, staff were helpful and happy to take our shopper to the product she was looking for.
Availability was also an issue at Tesco in Kingsteignton, Devon. It scored just 47, with three out-of-stocks and two not-stocked items. There were lots of gaps on shelves and in the fruit & veg section in particular.
Our shopper found the layout a little confusing and felt some of the Father’s Day and football promotions were hard to spot.
Standards were not great: a large spill of sugar on the floor had not been attended to, and had subsequently been trodden in by customers.
Staff were the saving grace, and for the most part went out of their way to help. One team member clearly stayed on beyond her hours to help our shopper.
Our shopper at Asda in Totton, Southampton, was left very disappointed as it scored just 28 points.
The visit started badly, with poor navigation and crowd control in the car park leading to long queues. The store was “quite chaotic with shoppers, staff restocking cages in the aisles, plus abandoned trolleys and baskets”. There was also a large unattended spillage in the toiletries section.
Our shopper also felt the layout was not intuitive and availability was also an issue. Three out-of-stocks and four not-stocked items meant our shopper took just 26 products home.
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