Waitrose Egham: G33 store of the week

You’ve only been open for a few weeks; what will be the main challenges you face? Obviously things take time to settle down, but the challenges are very similar to the ones facing other Waitrose stores out there - pressures around deflation and a very competitive market.

How have initial sales and footfall levels been? We are delighted. Customer numbers have been higher than expected. We’ll have reviews and possibly make some tweaks. We may add more seating in the eat-in bakery or outdoor seating. So far, shoppers like the wide aisles, say the shop’s nicely lit and is easy to move round. We focused on store design and the result is I get fewer customers asking where things are in this new shop than I did at my old store in Putney, which had been open for years.

You’re just 46ft from a Tesco. How will you compete? There’s a lot of competition - it’s one of the challenges of this area. We’ve got a Tesco, a Budgens and a large Sainsbury’s nearby. All do a good job so we need to be consistently at our best - for Waitrose that means short queues, plus good service and availability.

Following the popularity of your half-price sale, do you think Waitrose customers have got a taste for discounts? We opened just as the half-price sale was taking place and customers were impressed with the reductions. Our Valentine’s Day meal deals were popular - so there’s still an appetite for offers. But customer service is our point of difference.

How has the local area welcomed you? The store was originally due to open in October, but it got pushed back due to building regs issues. So we had longer to get involved in the community before opening. We were at The Egham Royal Show in the summer, with a stall promoting local produce. Over Christmas we were out with local volunteering groups.