You’ve just celebrated 10 years at this store. What makes it so great? I started on the Waitrose graduate scheme straight out of uni in 2005 and worked my way up through different stores in the south and in London. I opened here in 2015 and have stayed because it’s just such a brilliant shop.
This is our second Grocer 33 win, although I was on holiday the first time when we won a few years ago. That is all down to our 115 partners and the relationships they have built with our community.
Oxford is associated with students and affluence. Who are your shoppers? There’s definitely some affluence here, but it’s not our whole customer base. We cater to everyone and have a bit of everything in our offer. Many of our shoppers drive into us. Even though Botley Road has been closed for four years now, shoppers have adapted and we’re still a bit of a destination, particularly at weekends. During the week, it’s a combination of people who work in the city, and of course students. We’re not a high-footfall branch, but we have a higher average spend.
What are they buying? Our bestselling item last week was a 350g pack of blueberries. That says a lot about shoppers in Oxford, where healthy eating is a big thing. Avocados are always among our top sellers, and anything organic also does well. We generally overtrade on beers, wines and spirits, particularly on local beers.
What’s your biggest challenge as a store team? Making sure we’re consistent in everything we do. Because we’re technically a city centre branch, as well as a student city, we have a higher turnover rate than average. The business has invested new processes, training and systems, which have helped.
It was the Easter basket. How is preparation going? We’re in a good place. Trade really started picking up at the start of this week, and then everyone is looking forward to a day off on Easter Sunday as we’re closed. Normally our on-demand channel sees a bit of drop as the students go home, but numbers have stayed strong.
Have you had electronic shelf-edge labels fitted yet? They’re due on 17 May. The store is 25,000 sq ft so we’ll fit them over three nights. One of the biggest changes during my time at the store is the level of investment into tech and into how we run our shops. You can see the benefits in our performance. More exciting news is that we’re set to roll out a new inventory management system, which will help us provide even better service for our customers.
How have shoppers reacted to the rebranding of MyWaitrose as more of a ‘food lovers club’? Really well, particularly to Little Treats. It’s had some great free products – like tea, wines and scones – and gives an immediate, tangible reward. The business has done brilliantly to make sure we’re stocking enough of the products.
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