Store of the week: Waitrose Brighton

You’ve been with Waitrose for four years. How does this one compare? My first two years were at the Eastbourne branch, which was more of a destination shop on the edge of town and had a more mature customer demographic. Brighton is younger and it’s a city centre location with a high footfall.

The store had a revamp at the end of last year. What improvements have there been? We wanted to create a brighter environment and have done that with lighter tilling and clever use of lighting. When you walk in the store, the aisles have been widened and fresh produce fixtures have been lowered so customers can see across the range. The wall freezers have been replaced with chest freezers and a cabinet. As a result, we’ve been able to increase the range and improve availability. We’ve also increased the chilled range and have a new refrigeration system.

Have you made any changes to the tills? Historically we mainly had belted tills, but as part of the refit we now have Quick Check tills and self-service. It’s freed things up and reduced queue times. We really noticed the change at Christmas.

What reaction have you had from customers? The feedback has been really positive. Customers tell us the branch looks much more inviting. They say parking is also easier. We had changed the configuration to make it easier to navigate and provide more space.

Waitrose has opened a new store nearby in Hove. How has that affected trade? It doesn’t seem to have had an impact on us - our footfall has actually increased. Hove is more of a destination shop whereas here we get the local and city centre trade.

How is current trading? As you’d expect with the World Cup on, we’re selling a lot of barbecue foods, salads, beer and wine. England’s exit doesn’t seem to have affected us.