Winner: Tesco Extra Broadstairs
Sore deputy manager: Bob Wild
Opened: 2001
Size: 100,000 sq ft
Market share: 24.2%
Nearest rivals: Sainsbury’s - 0.2 miles, Asda - 0.6 miles, The Co-operative Group - 1 mile
Store data source: Analysis by CACI. Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000
Is your store one of the oldest Tesco Extras? There have been a lot of conversions but we think this was the first one that started as an Extra. We were seen as the store of the future.
There has been a lot of coverage about how Tesco Extras are having to adapt. What have you got planned? We have got some exciting changes in the pipeline, including a new restaurant format, which is due to open before Christmas. It’s a carvery-style format and the aim is to bring a different clientele.
What other changes have you made in store? There has been a big emphasis on quality. We’ve had a lot of activity around the Love Every Mouthful campaign and our produce team has been really ruthless in making sure the quality of our fresh food is brought up to scratch.
What about physical changes to the store? We haven’t had any refresh work yet but over the last 12 months we’ve repainted every visible part of the store.
Nearby Margate has been the centre of a lot of anti-Tesco feeling. Have you felt any of it? I think we’re far enough away not to be seen to be contributing to the problem with the high street. I used to work for Woolworths and I live, sleep and breathe the high street, but it’s a fact of life that there has to be evolution.
Have you been consulting with local shoppers? We’ve been running events with a panel of customers who we talk about the store with and what they think we could do better.
Our mystery shopper said it was a trek to find staff to help. This is a 100,000 sq ft store, which can make it difficult to have staff on hand to help. We’re fortunate that we have been able to maintain good availability.
Christmas displays are beginning to appear already. Are you looking forward to it? Christmas is the time when we can really flex our muscles. Come December we will have people across Kent flooding to us because we have the whole of Christmas under one roof.
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