sainsburys darnley

Winner: Sainsbury’s Darnley, Glasgow

Store manager: Kevin Cunningham

Opened: 1992

Size: 85,000 sq ft

Market share: 14.2%

Nearest rivals: Tesco - 1.2 miles
Waitrose - 1.5 miles
Morrisons - 1.8 miles

Store data source: Analysis by CACI. Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000

 

You’re an old hand at the Grocer 33 - this is your fourth win! Yes. I have won as a store manager at Safeway, Morrisons and now twice at Sainsbury’s. I’m a very happy chappie.

So, what’s your secret? It’s the 330 colleagues I work with. They’re a great team, highly trained, dedicated and brilliant at what they do.

What was their reaction when they found out about the win? They were extremely proud and delighted. It’s been a great week for the store because we scored 100% in an internal mystery shopper survey, so to get the call from The Grocer on Monday morning really was the icing on the cake. Morale is fantastic and everyone is buzzing.

This is also Sainsbury’s 10th win on the G33 since June - why do you think it is doing so well? We put the customer at the heart of everything we do. As soon as a customer comes to us, we make sure they have the best service from beginning to end, from when they arrive in the car park, to getting a clean, dry trolley, ease of moving around the store. We make sure the store is always clutter-free.

What feedback do you get? We encourage feedback from both customers and colleagues, which I read daily. It’s an excellent tool so that we can act on something very quickly and know what we have to work harder on.

Your store is the biggest Sainsbury’s in Scotland. What’s it like managing such a big store? It’s fabulous. I’ve got the full Sainsbury’s offer - all the ranges, a mezzanine level for the café and clothing, and a multi-deck car park. The most recent addition was travel money, which is doing very well.

And have the Christmas preparations started? Absolutely. In fact, the first products went in today - biscuits, sweets and gifting. People are savvier shoppers now and want to spread the cost of Christmas.