Asda’s Aintree superstore is best supermarket in our Liverpool mystery shop

One of the UK’s most vibrant and creative cities, Liverpool has left an indelible mark on popular culture thanks to a certain mop-haired foursome, two storied football clubs and much more. The historic docks and River Mersey shape its character, but the modern city mixes this with contemporary developments such as the open-air shopping mall known as Liverpool One, where high street chains rub shoulders with luxury retailers and stylish dining options.

The city’s independent spirit lives on in the industrial-chic Baltic Triangle district, while Bold Street is the go-to spot for quirky, vintage finds, eclectic shops and cosy cafés.

When it comes to supermarkets, all the supermarkets are well represented, though its 600,000 population overindexes most on the demographics designated by CACI as ‘low income living’ and ‘stretched society’.

In our mystery shop it was the 70,000 sq ft Asda – one of nine in the city – that performed best – the retailer’s second in a row, and the second time Asda has won in Liverpool recently, after its Huyton store was crowned best inner-city supermarket in July. Eight miles north of the city centre.

The superstore won despite having the joint-worst showing on availability with two out-of-stocks and two items not stocked. This pointed to excellent performance elsewhere, though, with perfect scores for accessibility, customer service and tills & checkouts.

Our shopper found staff “friendly, extremely approachable and very helpful” and she “felt valued as a customer”. And checkout was “very speedy”.

The store did lack a little excitement, however, with our shopper suggesting that Asda might care to look at how overseas supermarkets are set up and try to “emulate them”. Just three points back in second was Waitrose on Three Tuns Lane, northwest of Liverpool city centre in the town of Formby.

This week’s smallest store at just 25,493 sq ft, it nonetheless delivered the only perfect score on availability.

Our shopper was particularly taken with the aged meat section, which she had “never seen before”. The range of products also drew praise, with the store overall deemed “very classy” and “definitely for rich people”. She also liked the “excellent” meat, deli and sushi counters and the bookshelf for those who might like to read while in the café – “a nice, personal touch”..

Unfortunately, the toilets smelled “awful” and at one point it took our shopper “about five minutes” of walking “up and down the aisles” to find a member of staff.

South of the city centre and close to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Morrisons on Penketh Drive took third. The store scored a perfect 20 on customer service, with our shopper finding it “easy” to locate staff and praised shop floor colleagues who were “extremely helpful and very chatty”. One even “reached the Coke for me, as it was on the very top shelf and I was unable to reach it”..

Her main gripe was how difficult it was to find a trolley – “there should have been some available at the entrance” – though the store felt “festive” and was “quite well stocked”.

Fourth place this week went to Sainsbury’s on Rice Lane, a couple of miles from Liverpool’s Anfield stadium. The 58,275 sq ft store tied with Asda for the worst performance on availability, and again registered a perfect score on customer service.

Our shopper said staff “were busy but did not mind stopping to help me find several items”, while the layout was “really easy to follow and well signposted”. Nonetheless, he found it difficult to find certain less familiar items and “would like to see scan and shop facilities” because “it would make other queues smaller”.

Last place went to the supermarket closest to the city centre, the 64,000 sq ft Tesco in Toxteth. It might be (just about) walking distance from the famed Cavern Club, but it clearly needs some Help on availability and store experience.

Our shopper’s “first impression was not a good one” with a “filthy” entrance and an unmanned trolley “right in the middle of the aisle” and “very messy” magazine display.

This “general overall grubbiness” was the worst thing about our shopper’s experience, though she praised one member of staff who was “very helpful” and “really funny”. Being able to “have a laugh with the shop floor staff” helped relieve the mundaneness of “getting a big shop done”, she said.