Morrisons was victorious in the last Grocer 33 shop of the year with a solid 85 points. Its mid-sized Chesterfield branch impressed our mystery shopper due to its excellent availability – the milk was the only out-of-stock item on our list – and festive feel.
Our visitor raved about all the fresh food counters, even though some were running low on produce. She said the only area that was noticeably below the standard of the rest of the store was the milk section, where the floor wasn’t very clean. But overall, the store looked “smart and well prepared”.
Runner-up Tesco Salisbury scored 73 points. The store was described as clean, safe, and featured good seasonal displays. The fruit & veg section was tidy and had an “abundance of stock”.
The aisles were wide but our visitor noted one recurring issue throughout the store, which was that lots of trolleys filled with cardboard were left unmanned.
She also said the store appeared to be understaffed, but that colleagues were all helpful, polite and patient. None of our G33 items were out of stock, but three were not stocked. Despite some gaps on shelves, there were alternatives available for most products.
Sainsbury’s was close behind on 72. Its Linlithgow store felt rather quiet, but was clean and attractive, and its conventional layout made for an easy and quick shop for our visitor.
There was no separate area for food counters in this store as the space had been replaced with an Argos section.
All staff were “more than pleased” to assist our shopper when she asked for help finding products, and she enjoyed her chatty interaction with the checkout assistant. However, this branch’s final score was impacted by the three items that were out of stock.
Meanwhile, Waitrose in Chester left our shopper “disappointed” as it offered very few seasonal items and seemed to struggle with availability.
Our shopper pointed out there were “huge amounts of gaps” in fruit & veg, as well as the fish and bakery sections. That was also the case with food to go, though that was less unusual considering the shop took place at the end of the day.
There weren’t many staff around, and the ones she spoke to did not seem to be very knowledgeable. Overall, the store scored a total of 66 points.
Guest retailer Lidl scored just 50 points as its Wolverhampton store too struggled with availability. Of our 33 items, five were out of stock and one was not stocked.
Despite the shortages, our visitor said the fruit & veg section all looked good and fresh, as did the bakery counter. There were also some attractive Christmas displays, with prices and offers clearly marked.
Staff were all extremely helpful and polite. The branch was small but easy to navigate due to good signage. The shop floor was generally clean, but some restocking trolleys were left unmanned around the store.
At 29 points, sixth-placed Asda registered one of the lowest G33 scores ever. Our mystery shopper said this busy town centre store in Rugby was “not set up to do a big shop” but rather aimed at customers on the go.
It had lots of seasonal foods and goods, but also lots of gaps (seven of our items were out of stock). The above-head signage was confusing and unhelpful, and the layout hard to figure out.
Out of eight checkout tills, only one was manned, which resulted in long queues.
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