Sainsbury’s claimed a second consecutive store of the week prize, marking its third win of the current Grocer 33 year, which kicked off in June.
The retailer’s Keighley superstore was a clear winner this week with 72 points – 15 more than any of its rivals.
While availability issues continue to affect the sector, Sainsbury’s only had two items out of stock, along with two that were not sold at the store. For the most part shelves were reasonably full, barring the fruit & veg section, described as “well-shopped” by our mystery shopper. She was able to find suitable alternatives to three of the four missing items.
The store was generally clean and tidy, and the wide aisles meant our shopper did not “encounter any trolley wars with other customers”.
The stars of the show were the staff, who were universally well-presented, friendly and helpful. All those she asked for help were willing to take her to an item, help her look for it or check the stockroom.
Three retailers tied for second place: Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose, with 57 points each.
Our shopper at Asda Wallasey managed to get hold of 29 of our 33 items. Just one product was out of stock, while three were not stocked. Overall our shopper spotted “a few areas that were not well stocked” but said availability was “mostly fine”.
Staff were friendly and did try to help – but told her the wrong aisles for some items.
Our shopper at Morrisons in Peckham managed to collect 31 items, with just two out-of-stock products. She was impressed by the retailer’s Market Street offer, which she said was “spacious and looked attractive”.
Staff were friendly but our shopper said they were hard to spot as they were generally dressed in black t-shirts and black trousers.
Our shopper found the layout a little confusing but on the whole easy to navigate. There was an obstruction, however – the shelves in the meat aisle were being cleaned and all of the stock had been moved.
Her biggest complaint was that she felt there were not enough checkouts open, causing queues to form down the aisles. Our shopper had to move a couple of times due to confusion over where to stand, and had to wait for eight or nine minutes.
Availability was the biggest concern at Waitrose Sandbach, which had five out-of-stock items. Stock levels across the store were “patchy” but the deli, meat and fish counters were all open and well-stocked.
Her dealings with staff were also mixed – while one did not appear to know what kefir was, another helped search for the Volvic water before checking her handheld tablet to discover it was out of stock.
The store has had a major refurbishment since our shopper’s last visit and she was impressed with the new look. She said the store was “much better for it and now looks and feels like a proper Waitrose”.
Tesco in Reading came in fifth. It was four points behind Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose on 53, thanks to seven out-of-stock items. Our shopper found several shelves empty and spotted restocking trolleys that seemed to have been abandoned. There was rubbish on the floor in more than one area.
Her interactions with staff were mixed. Some were “very pleasant and helpful”, some “reasonably helpful” and one did not seem interested in helping at all.
She said the store felt scruffy and overall “was not a very pleasant experience”.
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