Sainsburys basket plastic packaging web

A full basket helped Sainsbury’s edge out Morrisons this week in a close contest, with an impressive score of 84. Our mystery shopper praised the “welcoming, clean and well-presented” store in Torquay, with “friendly, smiley, lovely and helpful” staff and an easy-to-navigate layout leading to a “relaxed, stress-free and pleasant” experience.

Morrisons in Bathgate missed out on top spot by just one point as two missing products affected its availability score. However, the store was clean and bright, easy to navigate and staff were helpful.

A respectable score for Tesco in Batley was helped along by an “effortless” Saturday morning shop and only one out-of-stock item. The “huge” two-floor Extra store was easy to navigate, with plenty of staff around when needed and lots of tills open to keep queues down.

Our shopper in Wrexham found guest retailer Lidl to have “wide aisles, clean floors and well-stocked shelves”, with staff quick to open more checkouts to manage queues. However, restocking cages caused obstructions at times and three lines were out of stock.

A “run-down and tired” Asda in Lincoln needed a refurb, according to our shopper. Shop floor staff were hard to track down and seemed more concerned with restocking than helping customers, she added.

Availability was a problem at the busy Waitrose in Finchley, with five products out of stock and one not stocked. Our shopper said shelves were half-empty, unattended restocking trolleys were blocking aisles and the store in general looked “rather unkempt”.