Waitrose won this week’s Grocer 33 by a clear margin. The Hove store scored 88 points out of 100, with full marks for shop floor service, store layout and car park.
Our shopper praised the “pleasant experience” and “attentive and helpful staff”, who went “above and beyond to offer a good service”. They checked stock levels when an item was not on the shelf, and advised when items might be back in stock.
The store was also “easy to navigate” and laid out in an orderly way, making it easy to locate items.
The car park, meanwhile, was well managed by an attendant, who ensured it was “neat and tidy”. There were queues and a clear path from entrance to store, and staff were present “to greet you on entering”.
But as supply issues continue to cause low stock, it was a poor week for availability.
With two items out of stock, Waitrose scored best of the pack on availability. Meanwhile, runner up Morrisons had one item out of stock and six not stocked, dragging down its score to 64.
However, the Carmondean store in Livingston made up for this with excellent shop floor service, scoring full marks.
Staff were easy to find and well presented, while the store also scored well on checkout experience. Our shopper had to wait two to three minutes for a till, and there was a “very friendly” checkout assistant.
Our shopper considered it “not a bad shop”, but pointed out “this is not a large store so not as fully stocked”.
Third-placed Tesco had strong store standards but performed poorly on checkout experience, leading to a score of 61.
Overall, the Stalybridge store was very busy with restocking, but all trolleys were “well placed to cause minimal obstruction”. There were also some “very impressive” seasonal displays, for Halloween and Christmas.
It was apparent a lot of work had been put into the displays, which were “attracting a lot of consumer interest”.
However, the checkout experience was “quite disappointing”. The checkout assistant only spoke once, to tell our shopper the bill total. Only half of the checkouts were open, with queues at all operating tills. Our shopper had to wait seven minutes to be served.
Asda and Sainsbury’s were particularly poor on availability. Asda Thurmaston had three items out of stock and three not stocked, whereas Sainsbury’s Falmouth had four items out of stock and one not stocked.
Sainsbury’s avoided last place through good shop floor service, and had better store standards than Asda this week, leading to a score of 61.
“Stock was very tidy with labels facing forwards” and there were no unmanned restocking trolleys.
Staff were also “extremely helpful” and walked our shopper to the correct aisle or checked stock online.
The Asda store, by contrast, had very poor store standards and below average shop floor service, culminating in a score of just 54 points.
Our shopper’s first impression was of a “tired” store that “needed some updating”: the carpet had squares which were a different colour.
On the shelves were “a few bits of cardboard” that our shopper had to remove to get to the stock. There was also a “sticky mess”that had not been cleared up.
Staff were difficult to find, with our shopper sometimes having to “walk a few aisles” to find someone to ask questions.
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