Tesco scores huge 98 points to take title of Cambridge’s best supermarket

While the world-famous university remains an integral part of its social, cultural and economic life, Cambridge is a city that embraces the old and the new in equal measure.

As a leading tech cluster – often known as ‘Silicon Fen’, given Cambridge’s location in the English Fenland – the city has attracted thousands of world-class, knowledge-intensive companies including Amazon, Apple and AstraZeneca. Along with its abundant green spaces, high walkability and top-drawer food and culture scene, this means a strong base of young professionals is to be found alongside the city’s large student population.

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Unsurprisingly, then, Cambridge is an expensive place to live. Its 285,484 population over-indexes massively on the most prosperous demographic groups identified by CACI – luxury lifestyles (7% vs a national average of 3.3%) and established affluence (30.9% vs 13.1%) – and has the country’s second-highest average weekly grocery spend per household, according to CACI data.

The city and its surrounds also has a wide selection of supermarkets and some are outstanding, if this week’s mystery shopper survey is anything to go by. The winner, Tesco on Yarrow Road, posted an exceptional score of 98. Located about three miles south east of the city centre in the peaceful suburb of Cherry Hinton, the 50,198 sq ft store set out its stall with a perfect availability score and matched that achievement in almost every other area.

While the store was “busy with customers, pickers and shelf stackers”, our shopper found “everybody was mindful of customer traffic”, and she had “no difficulty” navigating the store. It was “well stocked”, with “attractive displays” and a “logical” layout.

The “best thing” about the store, though, was “the friendliness of the staff”, all of whom were “very happy to help me”, making for “excellent” interactions with all colleagues.

Somehow missing out on first spot despite a superlative score of 93, Asda in the Beehive Centre matched Tesco’s perfect availability but missed out this week due to a slightly long wait of more than five minutes at the checkout. Despite this, our shopper rated the queue management as “good” and the customer service at the checkout as “great” with team members who were “observant and quick to assist with any issues”.

She also praised the “bright, colourful and well-organised shopping experience” in a “calm and welcoming environment”. Overall, the store “created the impression of a modern, customer-focused retailer that makes shopping both easy and enjoyable”.

Just a mile away, on Brooks Road, Sainsbury’s took third place with 78 points. The 45,240 sq ft store offered flawless customer service, with our shopper finding it “easy” to locate a member of staff, all of whom were “knowledgeable”, “helpful, courteous and professional”.

Unfortunately, “the overall condition of the store was poor” with “dirty and stained floors, damaged and broken fixtures and fittings, and generally worn surroundings”. It was a shame, opined our shopper, as the “tired and poorly maintained” store standards “overshadowed the positives such as the product range and checkout efficiency”.

Fourth place went to Waitrose in Trumpington, about four miles south of the city centre. As with Sainsbury’s, a perfect score on customer service was let down by less impeccable standards elsewhere.

Our shopper described staff as “amazing”, especially the “very happy and helpful” colleague at the entrance. However, the toilets “smelled terrible”, the fruit and veg section was “very confusing” with produce “not as fresh as it could be”, and there were “a lot of gaps on the shelves”.

The worst part of the shop, though, was the car park, which required a queue to enter and exit, while the “poor signage” meant “people were driving the wrong way” on multiple occasions.

Last place went to Morrisons in the Cambourne area, a full 12 miles west of the city centre and a full 40 points behind this week’s (admittedly exceptional) winner. The 34,075 sq ft store had four items out of stock, and our shopper noted a “visible sense the store was under-resourced, with colleagues busily being pulled from one area to another”.

This was in addition to “an overwhelming sense of busyness and clutter that made the shopping experience uncomfortable”. He did note, though, that “the size and range of the shop” made it feel “ideal” for picking up “everything needed to complete a weekly shop”.