Winner: Morrisons Stockport
Manager: Matthew Powis
Opened: 2001
Size: 25,000 sq ft
Market share: 4.5%
Nearest rivals: Tesco - 1.5 miles, Asda - 1.7 miles, Sainsbury’s - 1.7 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI. Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000

 

Our shopper was impressed with staff, particularly the manager who offered to call a nearby store to see if it stocked a particular product. You must be proud. I am. It’s great to see that staff are really responding to customers and putting into practice what they have been trained to do. We have a really steady, strong team at the store. I’ve been here for five years but we have other managers who have been here since the store opened 11 years ago.

So what’s going on in-store at the moment? Our shopper described it as being Christmas all the way. The ranges have been going in over the last couple of weeks and it’s all very exciting. It’s particularly great to see the skills we have in bakery, the butcher’s counter and the fishmonger’s all being used to good effect. The Christmas tree bread, three-fish roast and crackling turkey joint stuffed with pork tenderloin are going to be very big this year.

The pre-ordering of Christmas produce looks a lot easier this year as well. Will this help? Totally, we were asking for this last year. We now have a new booklet that’s really easy for customers to fill in and we have already seen more people using it. Our new party range is also all about making it easier for people - with the whole chilled and frozen range able to be heated at the same temperature.

Are you expecting a tough six hours on 23 December, the busiest day of the year? I think so, but not just the Sunday. I think the Saturday will be busier than normal and the Monday too. Things normally start to get quiet in the afternoon on Christmas Eve but I think it will stay busier for longer this year.

Away from Christmas, what has been your most exciting new range this year? We’ve had a lot of great new own-label ranges that are doing well. I like the new M Signature range that replaced the old The Best range, which puts a Morrisons stamp on something that originally came from Safeway.

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