This is only Aldi’s second ever mystery shop win – how will you celebrate? Well, it will actually be a double celebration as the store opened on 21st March 1996 – so it’s our 30th birthday, too.
How has the store changed in that time? It’s had an extension over the years and then a Project Fresh refurb in October 2024. It’s my ninth year with Aldi, having previously worked for Asda, and I’ve been here since October. It’s the busiest Aldi store I’ve ever worked in terms of both footfall and sales. We’ve got about 40 colleagues – above average for an Aldi, but we need a bigger team.
Why is the store so busy? We’re surrounded by housing, so we get a constant stream of customers coming through the doors all day, sometimes multiple times a day. It’s a proper busy, local store. It’s mainly a working-class community and a lot of customers tend to do smaller, more frequent shops rather than one big weekly shop. We’re just off the town centre as well, and while there’s competition nearby the volume comes from that local community who live on our doorstep.
South Shields has the lowest grocery spend in the UK. What are people buying? It’s really your everyday essentials and fresh fruit and veg (especially strawberries). Our food Specialbuys always go down well. And when we have knitting kit and yarn in the middle aisle, that sells incredibly well, especially with some of our older customers.
The store team were by far the best part of our shopper’s experience. What makes them so welcoming? A lot of it comes down to the team being local and really knowing the customers. Many have been here for years and have built relationships with our customers – they know people by name, they chat to them, ask how they are. It’s something I hadn’t really seen to this level before I came to this store. What’s unique about this store is just how constant it is – you’re always busy, always interacting with customers. Here you really feel like you’re really getting the best of what retail is all about. There’s always something going on. we’re always interacting with customers. That’s why we do it, after all!
Do you stock any local suppliers? Aldi mostly stocks the same range across the country. But we do have a few lines that are popular in the north east, like Newcastle Brown Ale and pease pudding, that you wouldn’t find in other regions.
What’s your biggest challenge as a store team? Managing a large team and keeping everyone happy while still getting the job done – that’s the biggest challenge for any store manager. I try to be as accommodating as possible when it comes to giving people the shifts and the hours that work for them, because that keeps morale high, but at the same time we’ve got a business to run. My job is always about finding the right balance and being fair to everyone.
How was Mother’s Day trade? The Saturday before Mother’s Day was probably our busiest day of the year so far. It’s a bit like a mini-Christmas for us. Flowers were the big one, especially the Specially Selected range, along with rosé wine and chocolates.
Are you anticipating a busy Easter? It’s going to be even busier than Mother’s Day. It’s all about managing the volume, especially Easter eggs and fresh food for Easter Sunday lunch and making sure availability is spot on, particularly on fresh lamb joints. The two or three days leading up to Easter are always hectic, so we make sure we have extra colleagues working to make sure we can still deliver that personal service throughout the holiday period.
How will you celebrate this weekend? We’ll get a cake in and make sure everyone has a piece – and we’ll get a copy of The Grocer and put it up in the staff room so everyone can see it! What’s really lovely is that it’s about recognising what they’ve achieved. I tell them every day they’re doing a great job but having that external recognition means a lot as well.
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