Who we visited

Tesco Express Bradley Stoke, Bristol

Mace Royal Avenue, Belfast

Budgens Trowbridge, Wiltshire

Bonjour Towcester Road, Northampton

Spar Condorrat, Cumbernauld



How they performed

Both Spar and Budgens provided a full basket this week, with Mace not stocking a number of items on our list.

Our Spar shopper was impressed with the layout of the store, which she said was well merchandised so she had no problems finding items on her list. She said the store was clean and staff greeted her when she went to pay for her goods, although no help was offered with packing her bags.

The one negative of her shopping trip was that the aisles were clogged with packing trolleys.

Budgens impressed our shopper with a very clean store which was well presented. When she bought her goods, the items were packed by a helpful assistant who greeted our shopper politely. However, she said that not all prices were displayed, meaning she had to find an assistant and ask.

Our Bonjour shopper was pleased with his trip, although the store did not stock blocks of butter or 24-packs of Weetabix. H e was impressed that his goods were packed for him and that staff were polite and helpful. The store was offering a three-for-£1 deal on Mars bars and two-for-£2.50 on 2-litre bottles of Coca-Cola.

Tesco Express did not stock 6-rasher packs of bacon and was out of butter blocks. However, our shopper said the store was attractively merchandised with aisles free of shelf -stackers. She said staff were helpful and polite, making for a pleasant shopping experience.

Mace did not stock a large number of items on our list and our shopper said displays were unattractive. The checkout assistant did not greet him and the store was not clean, he added.