Luke Pryce has always been around food. The son of a fishmonger, he joined Waitrose straight out of college and has spent 16 years with the JLP.

In that time, the Gloucester Road store in London – the latest winner of The Grocer 33 store of the week  – is by far the most unique he’s managed. It’s situated right next to Gloucester Road tube station, inside a busy shopping centre not far from the campus of Imperial College London. The diverse mix of trade, which includes a rotating mixture of tourists, local residents and hungry students, means it’s more akin to a “convenience store on steroids” than the full-line supermarket it is.

It was students that were the focus of this week’s mystery shop, which visited stores located close to university campuses. Pryce talked to The Grocer about the challenges of managing abnormal trade peaks, why even students are coming to Waitrose for Wagyu steak and its “massive” on-demand growth.