Tesco Riverside Dundee: Grocer 33 store of the week

What impact is the cost of living crisis having on the store? We’ve seen a massive shift towards people buying into our Aldi Price Match, everyday prices and Clubcard Prices. The first thing you find when you come into the store is our point of sale with information about our price points. Clubcard Prices gives us a big advantage.

Are there specific things you can do as a store to help people? We’ve seen what we can do around our store food collections. It’s all about being aware that not everybody has the finance. We’ve got permanent food collection banks in the store which run all year round. I fortunately have a community champion who volunteers and goes to do quite a bit of work with the local food bank Signpost International. He goes and supports cooking meals for some of the local groups and works at a local café to help people with basic and value cooking.

Have you seen donations to your food banks start to dwindle because of the financial backdrop? We’ve actually seen an increase in donations. We’ve also seen more awareness from our colleagues – we have something in our canteen where staff can donate into that and provide support as well.

What changes have you made to the store layout because of the upcoming HFSS promotions ban? My store has a very high percentage of food. From the HFSS point of view that means we’ve not had a massive customer impact because our store is laid out pretty much the way it needs to be. The main changes have been more around the front door and our foyer where there will no longer be confectionery etc. We will be switching to non-food, healthy living items and things like that.

Have you been one of the Tesco stores switching to a greater proportion of self-checkouts? I’m not on that rollout but there is an appetite from my customers in this store to move towards self-scan. I have a high turnover of self-scan, it’s getting just shy of 50%. Customer demographic is really key. We’ve got a young population, we are a student store, a huge population with an appetite for new technology.

How much of a difference will it make having students back on site this year? This year is the first year we are expecting a big impact since the pandemic. Last year a lot of it was blended learning, while in the next couple of weeks universities come back fully. We expect that we’ll have a key impact in the two-week period with a lot of students moving to Dundee who will pick up a lot of our general merchandise. Parents will be shopping for the usual toasters and mattresses, and we will see a big lift. We create a Back to University aisle which has all the everyday essentials, and we really focus on price – plastic storage, duvets, kettle, toasters. Students are also a huge part of my workforce, particularly in evenings and weekends.

What other new technology are you bringing into store? We are moving to digital screens above our promotion ends. We are one of the trial stores and that is again all about shouting price. It’s changed the dynamic of the shop a bit. It feels more modern and makes that promotion come to life.

Are you already thinking about the Christmas trading period? We’re already getting prepared. I think people will be mindful but throughout the pandemic people tried to make Christmas the best they could.

Tell us about your history as a manager. I’ve been in this store for 10 months. I started as a Christmas temp in 2001 and spent seven years working through the management programme. I’ve now opened two stores. I’m now back for my third stint. I’ve gone full circle.