Winner: Morrisons, Gyle, Edinburgh

Store manager: Jim McCulloch

Opened: 2006

Size: 50,000 sq

Market share: 9.1%

Nearest rivals:

Tesco 1.9 miles,

Sainsbury’s 2.1 miles

Store data source: Analysis by CACI. Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000

Morrisons’ Christmas trading was below many analysts’ predictions. How was the festive period at your store? We actually did much better than last year because the weather was a lot better. Last year, we had really bad snow and as the store is right at the end of the M8 people found it very difficult to get to here. Shoppers did seem to leave it late though and we had a bumper Christmas week .

 

And how has this year started for you? Very well. We have just started rolling out the new M Savers range. We have about 100 lines in already and customer feedback has been really positive. The range looks great and it is good quality. I’m sure it will do really well this year.

 

Morrisons also introduced the M Kitchen range at the end of last year. How is it doing? Our store has the biggest M Kitchen range in Scotland and it’s proving very successful .

 

You’ve been at the store six months now – what’s been the biggest change since you’ve been there? I’d say it’s our customer service initiative, HOT. It has been a major focus throughout the Morrisons business and it has had a big impact . When I came to the store the standards were pretty good but this has made a real difference. Big stores can become quite similar offering the same sort of products at roughly the same price. Our customer service gives us a real point of difference.

 

It was Burns Night this week. Morrisons says more and more shoppers are opting for veggie haggis – is this true? It’s been very interesting to see the change in people’s eating habits in Scotland over the past 10 years. We are selling a lot more vegetarian haggis this year but the traditional kind is still the biggest seller by far.

 

Our shopper noted a lot of traffic work underway around the store. Is this affecting business? It’s not too bad. There is a lot of work going on for the new tram system in Edinburgh. The terminal will be about 200 yards from the store so that will be another way for customers to get here.

 

Jim McCulloch was talking to Ronan Hegarty