‘Nothing to improve’: Asda offers best shop on the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is often described as sitting somewhere between classic rural England and a traditional British seaside destination. Rustic beaches, scenic coastal walks and natural landmarks such as The Needles chalk rock formations are all part of the draw for this island located just off the Hampshire coast. Home to 17 miles of coastline and a rich cultural heritage including a famous music festival, it’s little wonder the local economy is built around tourism and other visitors, with SMEs playing a much bigger role than large employers.

The island is also renowned for its large retiree population and slower, more relaxed way of life. This plays out in CACI’s demographic data, where Semi-Rural Maturity is by far the largest over-index demographically (19.4% vs a national average of 6.7%). CACI describes the island as a catchment “dominated by older, settled, largely retired homeowners which account for over half the island’s population”, while both the most and least-affluent demographic segments under-index considerably.

This week’s mystery shop took place across many of the island’s most well-known towns, with the top two spots going to retailers in the more practical, administrative centre of Newport. And for the second week in a row, victory went to Asda. Its 40,946 sq ft store on St George’s Way picked up 84 points in total despite struggling a little on availability – as did most of our retailers this week.

Our shopper found the store spacious with “no sense of crowding” and appreciated that even when there were gaps in fruit & veg, “they had signs stating when the next delivery” was arriving. She also praised the “very clear signage” and staff who “were all friendly and smiling” and often stopped what they were doing to assist, even though they were “packing shelves busily”. All in all, she “found nothing” to improve and, despite being a regular Morrisons or Sainsbury’s shopper, “will now consider Asda”.

Just over a mile to the northwest, but closer to Newport town centre, Sainsbury’s on Foxes Road was second with 77. Our shopper said the store’s recent major refurb was “looking very good so far”, with the café due to reopen after his visit. He thus found the store “spacious, attractive, light and airy” – especially impressive, he felt, given it was a Saturday morning. Staff were largely “excellent”, with one “particularly helpful”, although a group stacking shelves were “talking together and totally ignored me when I asked for some help three times”.

Just three points back in third place was Waitrose on Well Road in East Cowes, which could be described as the less glamorous younger sibling of Cowes, the affluent marina town across the River Medina. Despite being comfortably this week’s smallest store at just 17,651 sq ft, Waitrose registered the best availability score and was also praised for its “helpful, friendly staff”, one of whom took our shopper straight to an item and was “very chatty and smiley”. However, she noted that the “prices here are generally much higher than I would normally pay” and spotted “quite a few” empty shelves.

The island’s largest town, Ryde, was next up, but its Tesco on Brading Road did not stock a staggering seven items despite by far this week’s biggest store at 69,235 sq ft. Indeed, our shopper is a regular here and even though he likes the “nice staff” and the layout, which makes it “easy to find things”, he notes that it “lacks the choice of other shops” and doesn’t like how “most of it is processed food – it lacks fresh produce”.

On the east of the island lies the more traditional seaside resort of Sandown, and a little way inland lies Morrisons on Newport Road, which took last this week with 54 points. The week’s only zero for availability came alongside a “downmarket feel” thanks to it “feeling a bit dark inside” with “cramped aisles” and “boxes of additional stock on the floor”. However, our shopper liked the fresh food offer, the “good deals” on meat at the butcher’s counter and said items “were easy to find and logical”.