Sainsburys fresh fruit veg

Sainsbury’s Maidstone had strong availability and an intuitive layout

Sainsbury’s has bagged its first store of the week prize since the end of May, and its first of the current Grocer 33 year.

The retailer’s Romney Place branch in Maidstone scored 74 points from our shopper, who said she would be happy to return to the store.

First impressions were strong. The car park was orderly and well-managed and the store itself was clean and tidy, while the layout was intuitive.

There were plenty of neat, tidy and well-presented staff members on hand to assist, who were knowledgeable and happy to take our shopper to items she was looking for.

The only issue our shopper faced was a sizeable wait at the checkout. A customer ahead of our shopper had an issue that required a manager and took a long time to resolve. The checkout operator was apologetic when our shopper took her turn.

On availability, our shopper managed to take home 30 items, with just one out-of-stock item and two not-stocked lines.

The runners-up were some way off the pace this week. Waitrose in Wymondham, Norfolk came in second with just 57 points. The store was generally well-stocked on this Saturday morning visit, but our shopper did spot a number of gaps in the fruit & veg section. She took home 29 items, with two out-of-stocks and two not-stocked products.

There were attractive promotional displays in the store and our shopper was impressed by the quality of products on the meat, fish and deli counters.

However, service was disappointing. Our shopper asked for help three times, but was only shown the location of the products once. The checkout operator also let the side down by not saying hello or being friendly.

Tesco in Pontardawe, Swansea scored 55 points. In this case, excellent staff were let down by poor availability and a small range.

Our shopper was only able to bag 24 items, as six products were not stocked and three were out of stock. With so many missing items, our shopper had to seek help from a number of staff members. They all tried their best to help and one member seemed embarrassed he was unable to be more helpful.

The store was well laid out and our shopper was impressed by the obvious work that had gone in to making the store neat and tidy.

A point back from Tesco was Asda in Stanley, County Durham. Similarly to Tesco, the staff were the stars of the show. All were very knowledgeable and seemed genuinely happy to stop and help our shopper despite being busy.

There was, however, a lot of restocking taking place, which resulted in lots of cages in the aisles. Some were being managed by staff but others seemed to have been abandoned.

In addition, pickers for online grocery orders made it difficult for our shopper and other customers to get past at times.

There was a particularly long wait of over 10 minutes at the tills, due to a lack of open manned checkouts.

Finally, on availability, there were three out-of-stocks and three not-stocked items.

Morrisons in Coleshill, Birmingham managed just 50 points as our shopper was only able to bring 21 items home. Four were out of stock and eight not stocked.

On the shop floor, most staff kept an eye on their trolleys, but one aisle was blocked by abandoned cages. Staff were, however, very helpful and offered to check the stockroom for items – suggesting alternatives for those that were missing.