Waitrose picked up its first store of the week win since mid-September, in what was a generally low-scoring round of the Grocer 33.
Its King’s Cross store in London look the win with 68 points and had its excellent staff to thank for it.
The store was the only one of the five we visited this week to claim full marks for shop floor service. In fact our shopper said this was “the first store I have been to in a long time where staff were pleasant and very helpful”. Everyone she approached made an extra effort to help locate products.
The checkout experience also proved very positive. There was a long queue at the self-checkouts, but there were a good number of staff available to assist customers so the queue moved quickly. None of the manned tills were open but our shopper asked for help and a staff member opened a checkout immediately for her.
The store was clean and tidy but the layout was a bit confusing, and availability was an issue, with two out-of-stocks and five not-stocked items.
This week’s runner-up was Morrisons in Verwood, Dorset with 59 points. Our shopper was impressed by the tidy car park, bright and attractive exterior and welcoming entrance.
However her visit soon went downhill. She found the store hard to navigate as “the signage was so hit and miss”. There were also a lot of abandoned restocking trollies left around the store on this Friday evening visit. There was a spillage in the dairy aisle – with a warning cone – but it was still there when our shopper passed it again 40 minutes later.
Our shopper also found the lighting was too dim and made the store feel gloomy, while in certain areas it was hard to read the shelf-edge labels.
The main positive was the cheerful and diligent staff, who for the most part took our shopper to the items she was looking for. But she took home just 25 items, as five were out of stock and three not stocked.
Third-placed Tesco in Crawley scored 53 points despite having the strongest availability this week. There was just one out-of-stock and one not-stocked item.
Our shopper’s biggest issue was the staff “were few and far between”. She finally did track down someone to ask for help but the staffer did not prove particularly helpful or knowledgeable.
Our shopper at Asda’s Shirley store in Birmingham came home with a disappointing haul of just 24 products. Five were out of stock and a further four were not stocked. There were a lot of gaps and no restocking taking place.
In fact there were not many staff around at all, and those that were working were hard to spot due to a lack of uniform. Once our shopper did find people to help, however, staff did prove friendly.
Last place went to Sainsbury’s in Lancaster with a paltry 31 points.
Our shopper’s trip started badly as the entrance was hard to spot and she missed her turning.
Once inside, things did not get much better. In general, she felt the store looked quite messy, with empty packaging on the shelves that had not been cleared and quite a few gaps where items were out of stock.
There were three out-of-stocks, along with one not-stocked item. The layout was confusing and staff hard to find. Those she did find were “not very knowledgeable in regards to stock and location”.
Her trip ended with a wait of over 10 minutes before getting served at the checkout.
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