Making its first G33 appearance this week, Aldi could only manage fourth. Our shopper was surprised by the wide range of products in the Westbury store, and despite having “no frills” found it “functional” and “efficient”. The car park was tidy and well signposted. Restocking trolleys on the shopfloor didn’t cause any obstruction. And though there wasn’t overhead signage in store, the layout was “fairly intuitive”. But staff didn’t check the stockroom for an out-of-stock item; at the checkout there was a queue and no help was offered with packing.

The winning store was the Waitrose in Edinburgh. The store benefited from better availability than the norm for Waitrose these past few months, the store flowed well, making it easy to find products, assistants were “polite” and took her our shopper to items, and after a bit of a queue at the checkout the trainee assistant excelled.

The Morrisons Canvey Island store was let down by poor availability, but our shopper loved the “fancy” fruit and veg display, trolleys were carefully placed, and after a short queue, the assistant explained the new Match & More card.

It took eight-and-a-half minutes to get into the car park at Asda Dundee due to roadworks, and there could have been more trolley bays: it was noted that trolleys were seen strewn around the car park despite customers needing £1 to release one. The store was “clean and tidy”, though there were a few gaps on shelves. Staff were “excellent”, with the checkout assistant described as “unprofessional” but also “friendly”.

The car park at Sainsbury’s Bognor Regis was “confusing” and exit signs were “inadequate”. There could have been more staff and restocking trolleys caused congestion in the narrow aisles. A staff conversation had to be interrupted when help was required, which made our shopper feel embarrassed. At the till, the assistant was “perfect for the job”.

Tesco Banbury was last. On entry it was “chaotic”, with lots of empty shelves being stocked with Christmas merchandise. The bread section was also “virtually empty”, and the fruit and veg section needed restocking. In-store services were “good” and staff were pleasant but they didn’t try hard or go out of their way to help find missing items. At the checkout there was a slight queue and scan time was very long due to packaging being damaged on the cereal box - a colleague took a long time to retrieve a replacement.

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