morrisons cheadle stockport paul finch

Congratulations! I understand this victory is your second reason for celebrating this month as you have a big anniversary coming up. That’s right, this month is the 20th anniversary of the store opening, and we are planning a big party. We are also planning something special for the 35 ­colleagues that have been at this store from day one. It’s a massive help to have these guys here as they have a really good relationship with customers and it gives a real community feel to the store.

How was the festive period at the store? It was fantastic thanks. Sales were brilliant, the best we’ve had for a long time. Availability was super, we had a great promotional mix and delivered strong customer service. The star performer was the new The Best range, which definitely helped drive customers into the store.

You mentioned availability. Have you installed the new sales-based ordering system - and has it made a difference? Yes, we put it in during September and it is working well. However, it’s still in its infancy and we are looking forward to it growing. A lot of the strong availability we had over Christmas was also down to colleagues really working hard to make sure the product was on the shelves.

Morrisons as a whole also had a good Christmas. What do you think chief executive David Potts is getting right? There is a really good feeling in the business right now and seeing the strong results last week for the company gave everyone a lift. The strategy he has in place is really working well. As he says, it’s all about offering customers the products they want with good prices and it is certainly getting them coming into our stores.

So with Christmas behind you, what’s next? Well, we have the party to look forward to obviously, but we are also getting Morrisons Fresh Look refurbishment this year so it’s all very positive.

Winner: Morrisons Edgeley Road, Cheadle Heath, Stockport

Store manager: Paul Finch

Opened: 1997

Size: 43,000 sq ft

Market share: 5.3%

Nearest rivals: Aldi - 0.1 mile, Tesco - 0.3 miles, Lidl - 0.9 miles

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