Morrisons has picked up the store of the week title with an impressive 86 points.
Its Belle Vale, Liverpool branch would have managed a near perfect score if two of our items (the fish pie and Warburtons loaf) had not been out of stock. Our mystery shopper said availability was solid throughout the store and the range of services and food counters was “excellent” – including a “decent sized” clothing section, salad bar, cake shop and party aisle.
She was most impressed with the store atmosphere, which felt “nice and relaxed”. There were plenty of staff available on the shop floor, who were polite, cheerful, and went out of their way to help.
Second-placed Waitrose Cardiff-Pontprennau was also a “very pleasant experience”. Our shopper said the store was well laid out with attractive displays – particularly the Valentine’s Day one at the entrance – and a good bakery selection.
Staff were helpful and knowledgeable, and always checked stock and provided alternatives when an item was unavailable.
However, supply issues affected overall availability – our shopper noted most aisles had gaps. Five items on our list were out of stock. Additionally, the placement of the frozen aisles in the middle of the store left her worried that her frozen goods would lose quality by the end of the shop, and heavy restocking activity also caused some obstruction.
Sainsbury’s in East Grinstead took third place with 57 points. Our visitor immediately noticed the car park was litter-free and well maintained. The store was also relatively quiet, which meant there were no queues at the checkout. There were plenty of staff around to ask for assistance when required, and they were largely helpful.
On the other hand, there were quite a lot of unmanned restocking trolleys around the store. Availability was also off in many sections of the branch, with visible gaps on shelves. Our shopper bought 28 items as four were out of stock and one was not stocked.
Tesco and Asda tied for last place with 55 points each. Our shopper said the former’s branch in Newton Abbot was bright, spacious and fairly quiet, which made for a pleasant shop. Staff were also efficient and helpful.
The food counters that remained open were limited, but still packed a good selection of items – particularly the deli and hot food-to-go counters.
However, there was some extreme restocking activity going on: staff brought out restocking trolleys and cages to the shop floor and lined them up along the tills and down the middle of aisles.
Our visitor did not find the store layout smart or intuitive – for instance, the fresh section was split down the middle by three frozen aisles – which made it hard to locate certain items. Availability-wise, three of our basket items were out of stock and one was not stocked.
Meanwhile, Asda’s store in Gorseinon, Swansea, looked promising but ended up delivering an extremely frustrating shop. This was mainly down to poor availability: our shopper only managed to buy 22 of our items, with four out of stock and seven not stocked.
Staff were helpful, but were often unable to explain why some everyday items (such as milk) were not available.
On the bright side, the store was generally clean and well presented. And some areas looked particularly enticing – such as the fruit & veg aisle, bakery and the pizza counter.
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