Waitrose in Harrogate

Source: Amanda Manby

Waitrose in Harrogate impressed with ‘attractive and enticing’ counters

Waitrose claimed a narrow win this week with excellent service despite struggling on availability.

Its store in Harrogate scored 69 points out of 100. Our shopper described the shop as “a nice enough store, but with very poor stock levels”.

Shop floor assistants were helpful and well presented. Our shopper waited less than a minute to be served at the checkout.

The counters were “well stocked and looked attractive and enticing”. However, the aisles were obstructed by large restocking cages, which made it “tricky to navigate with a trolley”.

The store scored poorly on availability, with two items out of stock and four not stocked.

Sainsbury’s in East Kilbride scored 68 this week. It was a “nice store” with a good selection of food.

Staff were “excellent considering how busy the store was”. Shop floor staff assisted our shopper in locating items, including searching online. Throughout the shop, our shopper saw “professionalism and friendliness every time”.

The tills were very busy, with our shopper having to wait for two to three minutes for service. The checkout assistant “was nice and scanned my food through fast”.

Sainsbury’s scored the highest of any store on availability this week, with just two items not stocked.

 

Tesco Seaton came in third this week with 63 points. Staff were helpful, easy to find and well presented. They led our shopper to the correct areas and “offered to check availability at the store using their devices”.

Store standards could have been improved: the fruit & veg section was rather sparse, and our shopper spotted many empty crates and shelves. Despite low stock, there were no staff restocking in this section.

The layout was excellent: the store felt “spacious”, and the food-to-go section was big with clear meal deal promotions.

There were many tills open but our shopper had to wait six to seven minutes for checkout.

The checkout assistant was “friendly and attentive” but our shopper felt they did not handle the items carefully enough.

Availability was very poor. Four items were out of stock and six items were not stocked.

Bringing up the rear this week were Asda Gorton, Manchester on 45 points and Morrisons Chatham on 44 points.

Asda struggled on availability and checkouts, but scored well on its car park.

There was only one manned checkout open, meaning our shopper had to wait four to five minutes for a checkout. The checkout assistant was “polite”.

Nine items were not stocked, which led to a low score on availability.

Despite very good service scores, the Morrisons store struggled on availability, as well as scoring low on store standards and its car park.

The store was under refurbishment and looked “quite disorganised” with limited space between the aisles. The shop looked messy and there were lots of items that were out of stock.

The car park was also under refurbishment. It was “poorly managed and difficult to navigate”.

Shop floor service was good. Our shopper asked a colleague to find a product and she was “very helpful”, taking our shopper to the correct item.

Checkout service was also strong: “the cashier was polite, present and attentive”.

Seven items were out of stock and one was not stocked, leading to zero points on availability.