Morrisons' branch in Livingston clinched our top store award this week thanks to a full basket, a short queue and polite staff.

The store was immaculate, plenty of tills were open and the checkout assistant greeted our shopper, efficiently scanned the items and offered to pack.

Waitrose's new Saxmundham store also impressed. An assistant escorted our shopper to the required aisle and all the tills were open. However, the queues were slightly longer than at Morrisons and the checkout assistant, although polite, did not offer to pack. Another minus point was that some aisles were congested.

Asda in Cumbernauld was let down by availability, although staff were helpful and the items easy to find. Our shopper had no trouble parking and 14 of the 22 tills were open.

Sainsbury's in Loughborough also had two out-of-stock items but was tidy considering how busy it was. Staff stopped their shelf stacking to escort our shopper to several items. Yet too few tills were open, and the checkout assistant, while offering to pack, did not say goodbye.

Tesco in Buckingham had the worst availability and not enough tills were open. Our shopper was also unimpressed by limp-looking broccoli. However, staff were helpful and checked out the back for more fruit and veg. The checkout assistant was also very polite.


Winner: Mike Shaw, store manager, Morrisons, Almondvale, Livingston

How do you compete against your nearest rivals? We have an Asda within a mile and a Tesco in Bathgate. We compete by providing strong availability and service. Our presentation and shop-keeping standards are high. The staff work flat out to make sure the store is tidy right from when we open until we close. Our growth is well into double figures - up almost 12.5% year-on-year - and customers are spending £1,500 to £2,000 more a week here compared with 12 months ago.

What products are selling particularly well at the moment? The sunny weather has helped boost sales of fresh produce and counter lines, including the salad bar, fish, meat and oven-baked foods. Customers have also taken a lot of interest in garden ornaments and candles, plus children's patio sets.

Tell me about your plans for the store's car park. We have just won planning permission to create an exit at the back of our car park. The exit we currently have gets congested because the traffic lights do not stay green for long enough.

What are your everyday management challenges? Availability and trying to get that extra 5% to 10% in sales from each department. We use the tools the company gives us, such as trackers, to achieve this and the Give Me Five initiative enables us to talk about sales and what is going on and make staff understand they have a big part to play towards the company's success. Communication is extremely important - we had a fantastic week in terms of sales last week so I made sure I congratulated staff on all their hard work.

How do you and your staff socialise outside work? We have a social committee and are looking to have a barbecue at the local rugby club to keep everyone motivated now the weather is nice. We will also be planning a celebration for our fourth anniversary in October.

Will you be getting any new technology? At the end of this month we are getting self-scanning checkouts for the first time. There will be four of them, which will replace two of our existing tills.

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