Sainsbury’s Crayford crowned king in battle of the UK’s biggest stores

Size isn’t everything. Especially in grocery. In terms of expansion, many retailers are focusing on convenience formats that satisfy consumer demand for speed, proximity and flexibility when shopping. Openings of large, new supermarkets are more selective in comparison, with retailers often choosing to refurbish existing stores instead.

However, for millions of customers, the classic ‘big shop’ remains a weekly odyssey, and this week’s Grocer 33 pitches the biggest of the big against one another. All of our regular retailers put forward their largest stores in the UK, but only one could be crowned The UK’s best largest store.

Read more:

• Tesco comes out on top in tight Grocer 33 pricing battle with Asda

• Sainsbury’s Crayford’s Marc Fogden on managing Britain’s best big supermarket

• What is The Grocer 33 and how does it work?

That honour went to Sainsbury’s in Crayford, Kent. The store was extended to 2.5 times bigger than its original size in 2010, but even its 93,273 sq ft dimensions meant it was only the third-largest in this week’s selection.

It did, however, post this week’s best performance on availability as part of its winning total of 81 points, and the store has clearly had work done since its 2010 expansion. “It felt as though it’s been updated relatively recently” rather than appearing “tired”, our shopper noted.

The store was “easy to navigate”, while the specialist counters were “well presented with a good range available”. Our shopper “particularly liked” the “wide product choice and quality of the ranges available” and said staff were “visible and helpful when needed”.

Eighty miles north west, on the other side of London, Asda in Milton Keynes took second place this week, missing out by just two points. Having one more item out of stock proved the difference between first and second for this giant 101,091 sq ft store, which excelled on customer service.

Our shopper praised the “polite manner and good eye contact” of a staff member who helped her locate the cherries, and she also noted a large number of concessions including Bubbleology, Cinnabon, Panku and Rug Doctor.

She also liked the “bright, airy space and wide aisles for easy trolley access” but felt the store’s sheer size was a double-edged sword, because “with so many aisles, including seasonal, it could be confusing where to find items”.

More than a hundred miles south, Waitrose in Salisbury took third place this week with 75 points. Our shopper here is a Waitrose regular but noted that this 56,936 sq ft store’s extra girth meant it had “a lot more variety” than her local branch.

While she said “the friendly, welcoming staff” would be her abiding memory of the store, she also noted that “the store entrance was beautifully laid out” and enjoyed “the John Lewis sections” and the “really good selection” available on the counters.

The largest supermarket in the country finished fourth this week, with two items out of stock and two not stocked at all. Tesco’s 104,352 sq ft behemoth in Sandhurst notched up just 65 points, with our shopper feeling it was “a little tired-looking in places”.

Overall, shop floor staff “were visible and able to help”, but Whoosh order pickers “were everywhere and impatient to get to items when I was browsing”, which made our shopper feel “quite harassed and crowded”. The worst thing, though, was the “broken down” lamb fridges, which “appeared dirty and not well looked after”.

Last place went to the 59,501 sq ft Morrisons in Bradford, the only supermarket in the north of England this week. The store provided this week’s worst performance on availability, with our shopper describing it as “large with a good variety of products”, though she “didn’t like how many products were out of stock”.

The layout and width of the aisles was “appealing”, as was the variety of “fresh produce and ethnic products”, but customer service was an issue. Our shopper said she was made to feel like “a bother” when asking for assistance, with staff seeming “a little unhappy at being asked to stop what they were doing”. They weren’t easy to find, either. On one occasion, she had to walk five aisles to locate a member of staff.