Waitrose continues winning streak with highest store standards

Waitrose has bagged a hat-trick of Grocer 33 store of the week awards thanks to excellent customer service and consistently high standards at its branch in Saltash, Cornwall.

Our shopper was immediately impressed with the neatly stacked trolleys and the short, well-managed queue to enter the store. Once inside, she found every aisle neat and tidy aside from one stray wrapper in the produce section.

Availability was solid too, and our shopper only missed two products on our list: one out of stock and one not stocked. However, she did spot some gaps on shelves.

Staff were friendly and helpful and were happy to escort him to items she couldn’t find.

There was a brief wait at the checkout, but staff were on hand to direct shoppers to the next available till.

Runner-up Tesco in Shaftesbury, Dorset scored full marks for shopfloor service due to “attentive and helpful” staff from beginning to end.

Employees were “working well together” to keep standards high and ensure shelves were being restocked efficiently. They were also careful to keep their distance from one another and customers while doing so.

Although this was a relatively small Tesco branch, our shopper managed to pick up all bar two items, which were both out of stock.

However, our shopper felt the fixtures and signage were “dated” and impacted the overall ambience of the store.

The store layout near the checkouts also made it tricky to queue while maintaining social distancing, but staff did help manage the flow of people.

Availability was the biggest issue for Asda in Benton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There were seven products out of stock and our shopper said the fruit and veg section had been “decimated”, which she thought was down to shoppers stocking up in advance of snow forecast for the days ahead.

The store was busy and the wet conditions outside had led to the floor becoming dirty.

Staff, however, were excellent and our shopper described them as “very helpful” while assisting her.

Colleagues were also the stars of the show at Morrisons in Stockport. Employees were happy to share their product knowledge with the shopper and answer her queries.

The employee manning the deli was “extremely friendly and chatty” with all customers he served, those replenishing the produce department “went above and beyond” to escort our shopper to items and the till operator was “smiley” while scanning her shopping.

However, she was forced to wait for a long time in the rain in what she called a disorganised queue. And when she did get inside, there were “too many” customers to keep a safe distance.

There was also three out of stocks and one not-stocked product missing from our basket of items.

Our shopper’s trip to Sainsbury’s Castle Vale, Birmingham, did not start well either. Although there was no queue, he had to wait for a trolley to become available.

There were several empty shelves, especially in the produce and deli sections. In terms of the items on our list, there were three out of stocks and one not stocked.

He found the store layout confusing and had to rely on staff to help find items. However, he did feel staff were friendly and knowledgeable, and the checkout operator provided excellent customer service.

This week’s results: