sainsburys brighton chris sharp

Source: Rosie Wooldridge Photography

Winner: Sainsbury’s Lewes Road, Brighton

Store manager: Chris Sharp

Size: 33,000 sq ft

Opened: 1985

Market share: 19.2%

Nearest rivals: Aldi - 0.5 miles, Co-op - 0.8 miles, Iceland - 1.1 miles, Morrisons - 1.6 miles

Store data source: Analysis by CACI. Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000

Your staff made a major impression on our shopper. You must be proud of the team? It is great to see and I am very proud. We have some brilliant colleagues and they are all keen to go the extra mile for customers. We are also in a great place in terms of connectivity. They all have the apps on their phones in their pockets so are able to respond really quickly to what the customer needs.

You provided a full basket. What’s the secret to great availability? I was particularly pleased to see this as the shop took place in a Friday evening. Our location means there’s an extra challenge around getting deliveries in at certain times and the evenings can become pressured. But part of our new Winning Teams strategy is about giving team ownership of ensuring we are getting it right, and we all take a step back every day between 4pm and 5pm to make sure the store is ready for the evenings.

You’ve had quite a lot of work done in the store recently. What impact has that had? A sushi counter has been put in and an Argos went in just before Easter. Previously we didn’t have enough room for a full non-food offer but the Argos is working brilliantly - it is bringing a lot of new customers into the store. This will obviously be our first Christmas with the Argos and I think it is going to make a big difference. We also completed a lot of work on the car park just last month so it was good to see we got 10 out of 10 for that.

How are the new Sainsbury’s value ranges going down with customers? Very well, particularly the Greengrocer’s lines and the J James meat products. We are also seeing strong performance in the premium Taste the Difference prepared meals. I am very excited to see the new Leon-branded sauce lines coming into store this week. There is a vegan mayonnaise which I know will go down very well here, based on the customer feedback we get.