Store of the week: Waitrose Comely Bank, Edinburgh

Why do you think you won? Because we focus on how customers experience their visit to our store, right from parking their car. We make sure the journey into the shop is hassle-free, then once in-store we make sure everything runs smoothly. One of our latest initiatives has involved empowering partners so they can do refunds, say what is out of stock and suggest alternative products - the customer doesn’t have to wait for a supervisor any more.

What’s going on in your store at the moment? The front of store is being refitted. We used to have an old-fashioned welcome desk, but the new customer service desk will be alongside a dry cleaning service, a gift wrapping service, a flower wrapping service and our click & collect service.

What is the best thing about working for Waitrose? The democracy. We can regularly give feedback to buyers and stakeholders on what our competition is doing and what we think we need to be doing. We also feed back to central stakeholders on in-store matters like category sizes. Since I’ve been at the store, I’ve encouraged more of a focus on local and regional products.

What did you think about Mark Price’s comments that supermarkets are 20 years behind and that consumer behaviour has changed? I think Mark is absolutely right. We’ve seen new trends in our store - lots of people don’t do big shops, they do top-up shops. Promotions are far more important now, and our shoppers want to use leftovers and upcycle what’s left in their cupboard - they don’t want to throw away food.

Recent research from Waitrose suggested UK shoppers want new foods and new recipes - have you seen this demand in your store? Yes, definitely. Our shoppers really respond to new ingredients and ranges. Our recipe cards, offering new products or classic recipes with a twist, are also very popular.