Store manager: David Goodacre
Store: Waitrose Greenwich
Opened: 2013
Size: 17,700 sq ft
Market share: 3.1%
Population: 256,907
Grocery spend: £19,783,721
Spend by household: £178.47
Competitors: 69
Nearest rivals: Aldi 0.3 miles, Asda 0.7 miles, Co-op 0.6 miles, Iceland 0.6 miles, Lidl 1.4 miles, M&S 0.2 miles, Morrisons 2.4 miles, Sainsbury’s 0.3 miles, Tesco 0.2 miles, Waitrose 1.6 miles
Source: CACI. For more info visit www.caci.co.uk/contact. Notes: Shopper profiling is measured using Grocery Acorn shopper segmentation. Store catchment data (market share, population, expenditure, spend by household, competition) is within a five-mile radius. For CACI’s shopper segmentation of the other stores we visited this week see the online report at www.thegrocer.co.uk/stores/the-grocer-33
Greenwich is a beautiful location. What’s trade like? We’re very lucky to work here – the location and the look inside are absolutely top drawer. We get the best of both worlds in terms of trade: there are a lot of tourists at the weekend coming in for sandwiches and drinks, but it’s also quite a residential part of London, so our evening trade is really strong with lots of people popping in on their way home from work for their tea. It’s the opposite to what you’d typically see in a central London shop, where there’s a lot of office-based lunchtime rushes. In terms of what people are buying, we’re a real all-rounder, and our fresh and fruit & veg is really popular.
It was the London Marathon this weekend. How did that affect trading? The marathon route is literally outside the shop. We have to adapt slightly, as our trade pattern and customer base on marathon day is very different. Everyone knows it’s coming so our regulars tend to plan their weekly shop around it. Single drinks, lunchtime meal deals and self-serve bakery all tend to be popular so we make sure we keep replenishing those lines more than normal. We get our bakery team in slightly earlier and make sure we have someone constantly baking throughout the day. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase what we do as a branch.
You must be delighted that standards were so high given the disruption. I’m a firm believer that if you come to work happier, you will do the best you can do. And that for us is about delighting our customers. One thing we’ve really focused on here is making sure it’s a great place to work. We have 125 amazing partners, and we’ve really worked on making sure we celebrate successes. We’ve worked to call out individuals who have delivered really great service. That acts as a role model for other partners. It’s really paid dividends and I’m really proud of the team.
How is summer prep going? What are some of your favourite products? We’ve transitioned from Easter into summer over the week. The hotter weather this weekend has been the perfect launch. The new ranges look fantastic and some of the barbecue lines have been really strong already. I’m a barbecue man, so we’ve tried the Chilli Halloumi Burgers. I love the Minted Lamb Kebabs as well. They’ll definitely be having another appearance in our household without a doubt.
How are you celebrating the summer ranges in store? We’ve got a couple of great promotions running; three for £12 on barbecue meat and three for £8 on the new summer deli range. What I love about those is that it captures both parts of the summer trade – the family barbecue or the summer picnic in Greenwich park. It caters to all different needs.
You’re approaching a special anniversary. How will you celebrate? It’s my 25-year anniversary in July. We get six months’ leave when we reach 25 years. I’ve got a young family so I’m really looking forward to being able to spend some time with them. It sounds silly, but just doing the school runs in the morning, and it’ll be my first Christmas off in 25 years. It’s crazy how quickly it flies by, but when I look back I’ve absolutely loved it. It’s a brilliant company to work for.
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