Waitrose, Newport, Shropshire: Grocer 33 store of the week

You must be delighted with a hat-trick of wins in three years… It’s incredible – it’s the team’s result. Customer service isn’t just about the interaction shoppers have with partners, it’s also about what they can get from us shopping here. We’ve worked hard on our routines to improve our availability. Alongside that, every partner here is just so passionate about service and the relationships they build with our customers. It’s lovely to see.

Our shopper left with a full basket. Tell us more about the work to improve availability? The biggest impact has been with our stock management routines. So, making sure all partners are aware of what they should be doing on a daily basis. Also ensuring our stock file is accurate. A new forecasting system rolled out across the business and we’ve had high-level shelves fitted. But we have to do it right at our end to ensure those systems can work right.

How are shoppers in Newport feeling compared to last year? At the moment, they’re just buzzing for Christmas. We’ve got lots of exciting products. Today, for example, we’ve got half-price offers on crackers, cards, gifts and wraps. It feels like interest in the products and the conversations we are having have started a bit earlier this year. It’s because of some of the activity we’ve been doing in store and the Christmas advert. You get that energy going into Christmas anyway, but I feel like it’s elevated this year.

What products are you showcasing? And what are people buying? The Red Velvet Bauble dessert. It ‘goes missing’ in our Christmas advert, so naturally people are interested in that. The beauty this year is we’ve got mini versions as well which allow shoppers to sample what it’s like. Desserts are quite popular here generally – the people of Newport must have a sweet tooth. Some of the desserts in our relaunched No.1 range have been really popular, the No.1 Double Chocolate Eclairs in particular. A lot of customers are also stopping to look at our Santa Bao Buns as well. I’m looking forward to getting the full Christmas range in over the next couple of weeks. We are a full-range supermarket and serve a larger area, so we get interest across the board. People come here to do their full shop, we tend to get a lot of evening trade as people come in to get their dinner.

Have there been any changes in store since we last spoke? We had a checkout rebalance in June. The till area has been elevated, with the upgraded version of the self-checkouts added throughout. We’ve got six mainline tills, and we had an additional self-service put in. Generally, shoppers have reacted positively. While some prefer the speed and convenience of the self-checkout, we’ve still got the traditional tills for those who prefer more personal, one-on-one service. It’s good to have investment into the store.

Are you aiming to make it four wins in a row next year? We are focused on keeping those relationships with our customers – making sure that we are really listening to any feedback they give us, but also ensuring we keep our stock routines. Also, let’s just have a bit of fun – it’s only Christmas once a year. For now, it’s just incredible to be able to celebrate with the team. We’ve got a raffle planned and a bit of cake in-store.