At £37.07, Sainsbury in Macclesfield provided the cheapest of our four full baskets on The Grocer 33 this week and was the best performer for customer care.
The store was spotless, while staff were knowledgeable and polite when questioned. The “bubbly” cashier was “excellent”. Local Samaritan workers were at the checkouts to pack bags in aid of the charity. This was a quick and easy shop and won this week’s Storewatch title.
Asda in Harrogate had free sampling of local fare at the end of each aisle for ‘Yorkshire Day’. It charged £37.28 for its full list, but scanned apples as Braeburn at £1.28/kg instead of Jonagold at 88p/kg.
Safeway in Hucknall charged £41.34 for all 33 items. The store was clean but stacking crates in the chilled areas were a problem. Attentive staff offered to hand products to shoppers to ease congestion.
The Co-op’s full list in Keynsham cost £43.10, maintaining the group’s full basket strike rate at 33% since last June. There was a six minute wait at the checkout as a shopper in front forgot her debit card.
Tesco in Horsham was very clean and had all variants of Kit Kat except the one on our list. In Londonderry, staff at the chain said it did not stock fresh penne or Evian in 2 litre bottles. No new potatoes were available in the second consecutive week for a Tesco store in the province.
Asda was “heaving” and staff were busy re-stocking. Staff at Morrisons checked for missing items without success.