Morrisons Dundee: Grocer 33 store of the week

How long have you been with Morrisons? I’ve been with Morrisons for 24 years, across different roles. I joined the Dundee store only five weeks ago, after a stint in a regional field role, to support the store operations. I’ve continued to build on the previous store manager’s momentum and their great work with the team.

This isn’t your first time winning the Grocer 33, correct? That’s right, this is my second time – the first was in 2014, when I was heading the Aberdeen store. I went to the Grocer Golds as one of the runners-up to store manager of the year and was delighted to be recognised.

How has the retail landscape changed since then from a store manager perspective? Obviously the current climate is different, especially since Brexit, but certainly for me it has not changed in terms of looking after customers, managing availability, creating a healthy and happy environment for the colleagues, delivering great service and also reaching out to our community, which is something we do really well here in Dundee.

How so? This store has a community feel and really is in the heart of the community, which is something that all store colleagues are very proud of. We have some colleagues who have been here since the store opened. We reach out to the community by going to schools and supporting the local food banks, and our Community Champion is really at the heart of that work.

Have food bank donations from customers dropped because of the cost of living crisis? As you enter the store you’ve got the charity ‘pick up’ pre-packed bags with a selection of foods, like tins and cereals, and they’re very popular with customers. So we’re certainly not seeing a drop, it’s actually going the other way. And in the customer café, over the summer holidays, we’ve had the Kids Eat Free offer, which has gone down really well with local families.

Are there any pockets of stock you’re struggling with because of the heatwave? We’re really focused on the availability of products that we can influence. There are obviously supplier availability issues in general. On Saturday because of the hot weather, bagged salad didn’t surprise me as an area that retailers overall were struggling with. In general, we’ve had a really strong summer trade. Aside from the normal hot weather lines such as ice cream, party food and summer toys, we also have a garden centre in the car park so we’ve sold lots of garden furniture.

Our mystery shopper said the store layout seemed slightly nonsensical at times. The store is nearly 15 years old. We have reviewed the store layout within that period, and we’re at the early stages of listening and responding to customer feedback about having a fresh-look refit. So we’re taking all that kind of feedback on.

What are the most popular fresh food counters? Most of our Market Street products are fresh and locally sourced, like the meat and fish, which is very popular. All our bakery is produced in store, from speciality bread to scones. And our Market Street also has a hot plate that produces freshly baked pancakes and crumpets daily, which is very popular among customers.