Store of the week: Waitrose Southend

How long have you been a store manager? I’ve been a store manager for 20-plus years and in that time I’ve worked all over, in and around London and the Home Counties. I’ve been managing the branch here for six years. I’m Waitrose through and through.

What has changed in your time as a store manager? Obviously the way we go about things and the words we use have changed, but actually the DNA - 97% of what we do - remains the same. Offering the best service and getting the best out of the team are as important now as they were then.

What do you put the win down to? We have a very strong team with a good mix of experienced and new people. They live locally and really know our customers well.

How is the branch performing at the moment? The whole of Waitrose is doing very well. We’re doing a really good job on pricing and that is attracting new people. Our branch is 20 years old and we’re still growing well, which is terrific.

Have you had any big changes in store recently? We have a new, really large, welcome desk, which has made things like John Lewis click & collect much easier. The whole of the front of the store has been enhanced. Food-to-go has moved to the front and we’ve added two extra manned tills. Although we’re an out-of-town store, we still get a lot of lunchtime trade.

And what is happening in store now? There’s a big St Valentine’s feel. We have our biggest-ever flower range for Valentine’s Day and a number of themed promotions. Easter is also starting to gain momentum and a spring cleaning event is coming up.

How did the Champagne giveaway in January affect Waitrose.com sales? We have had a fantastic month. We more than doubled our throughput and opened up more delivery slots - making it even more accessible for customers.