tesco store

With the local Highland Games taking place on this “lovely sunny” bank holiday Saturday, Tesco’s Bathgate, West Lothian store was particularly busy, even first thing. Staff responded admirably. Despite average availability, shop floor staff were “more than helpful” and the “young girl” on the checkout was “very pleasant”.

The signage approaching the Sainsbury’s store in Biddulph was confusing and our mystery shopper thought the merchandising in the entrance to the store off-putting, with the large non-food area resulting in “the narrowest food aisles I have seen in a long time”. But staff were “a credit to the store”.

The Manchester Morrisons store was “clean and tidy”, with “well-presented” and “good-quality” fruit & veg offers at the front and “a good range” of outdoor/play items in the seasonal section. Staff were “reasonably helpful”. And though its relatively small size meant there were few counter services (and limited availability), our shopper liked the new salad bar.

At the Asda store in Highbridge, the biggest issue was availability. Shop floor service was also mixed, with “a general lack of available staff”. Some were supremely helpful (notably the “lovely” lady in the bread aisle who went out the back to find a pack of croissants as a “very late” new delivery had just arrived); others less so.

Waitrose Greenwich was also hampered by poor availability, but there was additional criticism of congestion caused by the customer service desk, inconsiderately placed restocking trolleys and the gum-chewing checkout operator.