Waitrose has claimed a hat-trick of store of the week awards with another score in the mid-80s for the third week running.
This week its branch in Newton Mearns, Glasgow scored 84 thanks to exemplary service and perfect availability.
Our shopper bagged up a rare full basket, which reflected generally well-stocked shelves. Although there were a number of staff replenishing shelves, they did not obstruct customers.
Our shopper felt the store was “of very good quality, offering a clean, well-organised shopping environment”.
However, she reserved her most effusive praise for the staff. She received excellent service and said “the store seemed like a pleasant place to work with people looking genuinely happy to be there”.
There were only two manned checkouts open, but our shopper felt this was enough.
Tesco Extra in Poole took the runner-up spot with 76. It was close to providing a second full basket of the week, bar the specific flavour of Old Mout cider on our list.
Our shopper had been wary of visiting this store in the past as she was daunted by the size of the hypermarket, but she was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to navigate, as well as being clean and bright.
The only negative, she felt, were the promotional areas piled high with boxes of stock, which gave the impression of a cash & carry.
Staff were excellent, including one team member who was on his first day. All were friendly and keen to help, using their handheld devices to pinpoint the exact spot in each aisle for the products on her list. There were also plenty of manned checkouts open.
Overall, this was a strong week across the board, The bottom three stores all came in with scores from 66 to 69.
In third was Sainsbury’s in Derby. Our shopper’s trip got off to a bumpy start: the auto-locking anti-theft feature on his trolley kicked in as he was on his way into the store, though this was sorted after a few minutes by a member of staff.
The store was well organised, clean and tidy, and although some restocking was taking place, only once did this get in the way. Our shopper was particularly impressed by the store’s special food to go area, which he felt Sainsbury’s should roll out more widely.
Staff were well presented and polite and helped check the shelves for items our shopper couldn’t find. While he progressed through the tills quite quickly, he noticed a sizeable queue building up behind and felt more checkouts should have been opened. The only other criticism he had was the temperature in the store, which he said was uncomfortably cold.
On availability, there were two out-of-stocks and three not-stocked items.
Morrisons Bathgate scored 67. Our shopper took home 30 items due to two out-of-stocks and one not-stocked item.
This was a “very clean and bright store” with helpful staff, who took our shopper to items on the three occasions she needed assistance. She was also impressed by the “very pleasant young lady on the checkout”.
There was just one out-of-stock at Asda in Castleford, along with two not-stocked items. In general, the store was well-stocked and store standards were solid but for one leaking fridge marked by hazard tape. The biggest issue was her staff interactions. They “all looked a bit harassed and didn’t respond to smiles”. Nor were they particularly helpful when called upon for assistance.
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