Winner: Sainsbury’s Halifax
Manager: Martyn Nicholson
Opened: 1997
Size: 60,000 sq
Market share: 10.9%
Nearest rivals: Tesco - 1.35 miles, Asda 2 miles, Morrisons 2.35 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI.
Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000

 

This is the second time you’ve won the Grocer 33. How does it feel to win again? I’m absolutely delighted. I won it at this store in October 2008 and there are not too many stores that can say they’ve won it twice!

You’ve been a manager at the store for five years. Has this helped its performance? Yes. The whole team has been fantastic and we’re lucky to have a good mix of long-serving and newer colleagues. But we’ve also got a very stable management team, with a lot who have worked here for a long time. When the store was extended in September last year, it was quite tough but we all worked really hard to minimise disruption.

What did the extension involve? The store was extended from 36,000 sq in three directions to nearly 60,000 sq. It took seven months to complete. Our clothing offer is 10 times bigger and general merchandise five times bigger.

When we spoke to you last you said shoppers wanted the store to have a bigger clothing range. Has it been a success? Definately. Gok for TU has done very well, but it’s also successful across the whole range. Children’s clothing is especially popular.

Sainsbury’s reported strong Q1 trading earlier this month. Was this reflected at your store? Sales are well ahead of last year because of the extension. We’ve also got lots of new customers. So we had a very good quarter.

Our shopper was pleased to get a £1.05 Brand Match voucher. Do your shoppers like Brand Match? Customers really like it and it’s worked really well here because we’ve got four Tescos, an Asda and a Morrisons close by. They really do get it and see the benefits

Sainsbury’s has been store of the week twice in a row. Why do you think the company is doing so well? Service and availability is top of the agenda at Sainsbury’s. It’s so important at our store and we’ve worked hard to make sure the store isn’t cluttered and customers can get what they want. 

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