Tesco’s Cupar superstore was this week’s clear Grocer 33 victor with an impressive 90 points. Our mystery shopper said this branch had a “nice buzz”, with its cut flowers display by the entrance, a “nice” in-store café, and attractive product placement.
She was particularly taken with the ‘Fresh 5’ fruit & veg section that featured discounts for Clubcard holders, as well as the Mother’s Day display. Availability was excellent, as was the variety of produce in stock. Staff were approachable and very helpful, contributing to the welcoming atmosphere.
Next up was Sainsbury’s branch at Rice Lane, Liverpool, with 80 points. Although this store had one of the lowest scores for availability this week, it made up for it with top marks for shop floor service and checkout.
Our visitor said store standards were “very good on the whole”, and the layout was “impressive” with wide aisles that made navigation easy. She was particularly delighted by the well-arranged end-of-aisle displays.
Our shopper also noted an “excellent” range of services, from pharmacy to café to a Tu clothing section – yet it still maintained a spacious feel.
Morrisons’ Totnes branch scored 78 points. The bright and well-lit store felt spacious and welcoming to our shopper, who enjoyed the colourful Eastereggs and flowers displays. She noted the store was quiet and pleasant to shop in.
It also felt clean, well maintained and well stocked. In fact, the only out-of-stock item was the steak, while the kitchen paper was not stocked. The fresh food counters were a highlight, and our shopper thought the single-use mask recycling bin was “a great idea”.
On the downside, she said the food-to-go fridges looked “tired and dirty”. And there were a few cardboard boxes and cages dotted throughout the store.
Fourth-placed Asda earned 75 points. Our shopper was able to buy most of the items on our list (except for two out-of-stock and one not stocked), and there were lots of attractive promotions taking place.
However, the layout was confusing at times and the signage proved to be unhelpful as some above-aisle signs didn’t include all the categories found in each aisle. And while staff came across as diligent and polite, they were not willing to walk our visitor to the products she was looking for.
This week’s guest retailer Aldi came second-last after failing to impress our shopper, who was disappointed with the lack of attractive promotional displays upon entrance. She also said the store felt “quite basic” due to not having fresh food counters, and noted several restocking trolleys around the shop.
On the other hand, the store layout was easy to navigate and availability was good overall (with just one out of stock product). Store colleagues proved helpful and polite when approached. Our visitor gave the discounter 71 points.
In a high-scoring week, Waitrose was last despite scoring 70 points. The store was neat and well organised. Our shopper did not spot many gaps on shelves, even though three of our items were out of stock.
The offers were clearly shown but not particularly eye-catching, and food to go looked rather plain. She also noted it was not convenient for customers to have to pick up their click & collect orders from the in-store customer service desk.
Staff were helpful, friendly and polite, though those busy restocking left trolleys in the middle of the aisles.
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