Henry Beacher Sainsburys Upper Norwood

Source: Charmaine Brown Photography

Store manager: Henry Beacher

Store: Sainsbury’s Upper Norwood, London

Opened: August 2006

Size: 25,050 sq ft

Market share: 6%

Population: 1,576,050

Grocery spend: £41,088,043

Spend by household: £64

Competitors: 329

Nearest rivals: Aldi 1.2 miles, Asda 3.4 miles, Co-op 0.2 miles, Iceland 0.2 miles, Lidl 1.1 miles, M&S 2.2 miles, Morrisons 2.9 miles, Sainsbury’s 1.3 miles, Tesco 0.4 miles, Waitrose 2.5 miles

Source: CACI. For more info visit www.caci.co.uk/contact.

Notes: Shopper profiling is measured using Grocery Acorn shopper segmentation. Store catchment data (market share, population, expenditure, spend by household, competition) is within a five-mile radius.

You are located in a very busy part of London surrounded by rivals. How do you manage to stay competitive? The key for me is the service which we deliver within the store. It’s vital we really empower our colleagues to be themselves at work and lead their own service, and I truly believe that is what makes the difference between good and great service amongst our competitors.

How do you cater to the specific Crystal Palace demographic, which is slightly more affluent than average? We’ve got a great range of products across the Sainsbury’s estate to cater for all kinds of demographics and I think it’s vital our core Sainsbury’s range delivers fantastic quality which will meet everyone’s needs. Our Taste the Difference range is our real selling point.

Our shopper highlighted the display in the produce section that offered a ‘greengrocer’ feeling. Have you revamped the store layout recently? We’ve recently had some small works carried out in the store over the summer and that emphasis has really gone into us putting food first – changing our produce display really puts the emphasis behind our mission in winning in food. We had a general small refresh just to really lift the store, as well as some new painting around the store, new gondolas and a new produce display.

Have you changed your lighting system to 100% LED as part of Sainsbury’s net zero ambitions? The store is fully LED lights fitted.

Tell us about your Big Packs section you’ve recently expanded. Our Big Packs range has become really popular. It consists of large products which will cater for families, businesses, and other people that are looking for that bulk buy. We’ve given it extra space within the store now along our back wall and we’ve got a great range of products. We’ve really seen great uplift in that section of the store.

What are the most popular festive lines in store at the moment? It’s evident this year that customers are certainly shopping earlier with seasonal lines and we’re expecting to trade really well on these this year, from bakery Christmas lines to seasonal gifting and seasonal confectionery. We’ve got some really exciting products from our autumn additions range and also our new product ranges which will come through our customer food ordering, so we’re seeing a real uplift across that side of the business at the moment.

What do you expect Christmas trading to look like this year at your branch? I expect Christmas to trade really well this year. I feel we’re certainly set well. Most of our Christmas planning is done now, so that gives me real confidence over the next few months to trade my store well and continue to focus on our standards, our service, our safety and our availability.

Do you think any products or categories will be particularly affected by the supply chain crisis? Not in particular. Our colleagues and suppliers are working really hard to make sure our customers can find everything they need when they shop with us this year, and that’s vitally important for us.