Steve Lee, Morrisons Denton: Grocer 33 store of the week

Congratulations on your win! Thanks, but most of the credit has to go to my deputy Ben Nichol and the team, as I’ve been off recovering from surgery. It’s been a tough few weeks with all the initiatives rolling out in the business, but he’s stood up to the challenge.

Our shopper loved your Market Street. Do you think the size of your store helps the concept stand out? There’s a lot of space around our Market Street department, which gives our shoppers time to browse. At the moment, the butchers are doing a really good barbecue range, including grilled kebabs.

Do you have the autonomy to decide what’s on display? Because we make so many of our products in store, we look at it day-to-day. With the sunny weather and Wimbledon started, people are in a mind for outdoor pursuits and eating and we can respond to that.

How has the sun been affecting sales? We had reasonable uplifts last week, and we’ve seen really good figures for Monday and Tuesday. We expect the good figures to continue with the good weather.

Morrisons’ sales figures are up 0.6%, according to the latest Kantar data. Are you seeing this reflected at your store? We’ve seen a real uplift in sales over the past six to eight weeks because of improved availability and shop floor performance. It follows a recruitment drive, in which we’ve hired an extra 36 people over the past 13 weeks. The price reductions have also had an impact.

What’s been the main impact of the price reductions? It’s shown people we’re fighting hard against Aldi and Lidl, and they’re coming back in store. Once they’re in, we’re serving them well and persuading them to keep coming back.

How has David Potts been received? Overall, morale has improved considerably. With management restructures, PoS resets, and new initiatives, we’ve had a lot to do. But there’s a real visibility to what he’s trying to achieve.