Morrisons has picked up a second consecutive store of the week win thanks to its Newark branch.
The store matched the performance of its St Andrews branch last week with 79 points.
Although our shopper found the underground car park a little tight, once inside the store it was all plain sailing.
Availability was strong on this busy Saturday morning. Our shopper bagged 32 items and only missed out on a full basket because the Cadbury puds were not stocked.
She was impressed by the offer of free fruit for kids, the recently added WIGIG area, and the Big Brands display offering deals on boxes of beer.
The layout was easy to navigate and staff were largely helpful and polite, despite being busy restocking shelves. Our shopper had a particularly positive interaction with “Martin in the bakery aisle”, who, unbeknownst to her, was the store manager (see right).
The tills were busy but well managed and the checkout operator was friendly and helpful. All in all, it left our shopper feeling “this was a positive shopping experience”. She said she “would definitely use this store again if I lived nearer”.
Our runner-up was Waitrose in Beaconsfield, though it was some way back on 67 points. The store lost marks for availability with four out-of-stocks.
However, our shopper was keen to point out there were generally reasonable alternatives available to the specific line we were looking for.
The store was easy to navigate. Our shopper was impressed by the dry-aged meat fixture and the food counters. The staff were friendly and approachable and all proved knowledgeable and helpful. The checkout operator was efficient but not overly friendly.
Close behind was Sainsbury’s Rice Lane store in Liverpool on 63 points. Like Waitrose, there were four out-of-stocks. There was also one not-stocked item.
First impressions were lacking. Many of the trolleys our shopper picked had litter in them. Once inside, there was an overflowing bin and other rubbish strewn across the floor.
While standards were not great, staff were excellent. Sometimes our shopper found it tricky to locate staff but once she did, they were all friendly, helpful and often happy to take her to where she needed to be.
There was quite a long queue and our shopper felt there should have been more than three manned checkouts open.
Asda in Kingston upon Thames scored 56 points. There were no out-of-stocks but nine of the items on our list were not stocked at this relatively small store. Also, a number of fridges were low on stock.
A nice display of plants and flowers outside the store had not been watered enough and many were dying. The entrance had sacks of compost that were not well presented and while the big promo theme was the Euros, there was still a Father’s Day aisle-end nearly a week after the event. As is often the case, the best thing about the store was its “great, helpful, willing and friendly” staff.
Last place went to Tesco Tilling Road in London with just 45 points. The store was bright, clean and well stocked. There was only one out-of-stock along with four not-stocked items.
But staff let the store down. Only one of eight our shopper asked for help took her to the item in question. Others seemed to lack knowledge and simply suggested where she should go. After a long wait with insufficient tills open, the checkout operator made no effort to engage with customers.
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