No out of stocks, a short queue, a tidy shopfloor and efficient staff at Waitrose in Marlborough won our shopper over this week.
The aisles were clutter-free, an assistant escorted our shopper to the Yeo Valley Natural Yoghurt and the checkout assistant was very polite.
Tesco's Newtownbreda branch also fared well on availability, but its car park was full of abandoned trolleys. Staff around the aisles helped locate two items, but were not particularly friendly.
There was one out of stock at Sainsbury's in Darnley but our shopper was impressed nonetheless. One assistant advised him to come back for the Wall's sausages in 10 minutes because she was reducing them. Another approached him while he was struggling to find the avocados, escorted him to them, then asked if he needed any more help.
Morrisons' Burton-on-Trent store also had one out of stock. The floor was a little untidy, but a member of staff was picking up litter. One friendly assistant helped our shopper find the avocado, but another seemed reluctant to help locate the sausages.
One out-of-stock item, a long checkout queue and an abandoned stack of out-of-date fruit and veg in the produce aisle let Asda in Hounslow down. However, one friendly assistant helped our shopper find the J2O and asked if she needed any more help.
Winner: Andrew Davies, store manager, Waitrose, Marlborough
How was January for you? Like most supermarkets, it was challenging because of the weather last week was the first without snow since it started on 21 December. Everyone clubbed together and made huge efforts to get to work. Sales have performed well; our shoppers have been snapping up more diet and scratch-cooking products since the new year began. We are now looking to further capitalise on the Essential range because it has proved so popular, as well as broaden the Seriously offer.
If you could change one thing about your store, what would it be? I would like to see a small café here because I think it would fit in really well with the community. Our customers are very experimental and knowledgeable about what they eat and drink so I think it would be well received. However, the store is just 23,000 sq ft so finding the space would be tricky. Five years ago we added 8,000 sq ft to the store, but don't have plans to extend it further as of yet.
You have won our top store award twice now. How do you pull it off? Since I joined the store in 2007, I have tried my very best to give the best possible shopping experience to customers. The staff have worked so hard when it was snowing, many customers wrote in thanking us for pulling all the stops out and trading as normally as we could have done. We have a strong community presence and work closely with the local schools and Chamber of Trade.
How is your online service faring? It's doing well, we have increased the number of slots we offer by 50% in the past year. We have a wide coverage of the area and are planning to add another van soon so we will have three. Waitrose is now looking to revamp its website.
What's the local competition like? There are no other supermarkets in Marlborough, so we are quite fortunate in terms of competition. It's quite a unique town with a wide high street and we are in the centre. We have a number of independents, butchers and delis in the area that we have worked alongside for many years. The nearest multiples are Tesco and Morrisons, but they are some distance away so we don't tread on each others' toes too much.
The aisles were clutter-free, an assistant escorted our shopper to the Yeo Valley Natural Yoghurt and the checkout assistant was very polite.
Tesco's Newtownbreda branch also fared well on availability, but its car park was full of abandoned trolleys. Staff around the aisles helped locate two items, but were not particularly friendly.
There was one out of stock at Sainsbury's in Darnley but our shopper was impressed nonetheless. One assistant advised him to come back for the Wall's sausages in 10 minutes because she was reducing them. Another approached him while he was struggling to find the avocados, escorted him to them, then asked if he needed any more help.
Morrisons' Burton-on-Trent store also had one out of stock. The floor was a little untidy, but a member of staff was picking up litter. One friendly assistant helped our shopper find the avocado, but another seemed reluctant to help locate the sausages.
One out-of-stock item, a long checkout queue and an abandoned stack of out-of-date fruit and veg in the produce aisle let Asda in Hounslow down. However, one friendly assistant helped our shopper find the J2O and asked if she needed any more help.
Winner: Andrew Davies, store manager, Waitrose, Marlborough
How was January for you? Like most supermarkets, it was challenging because of the weather last week was the first without snow since it started on 21 December. Everyone clubbed together and made huge efforts to get to work. Sales have performed well; our shoppers have been snapping up more diet and scratch-cooking products since the new year began. We are now looking to further capitalise on the Essential range because it has proved so popular, as well as broaden the Seriously offer.
If you could change one thing about your store, what would it be? I would like to see a small café here because I think it would fit in really well with the community. Our customers are very experimental and knowledgeable about what they eat and drink so I think it would be well received. However, the store is just 23,000 sq ft so finding the space would be tricky. Five years ago we added 8,000 sq ft to the store, but don't have plans to extend it further as of yet.
You have won our top store award twice now. How do you pull it off? Since I joined the store in 2007, I have tried my very best to give the best possible shopping experience to customers. The staff have worked so hard when it was snowing, many customers wrote in thanking us for pulling all the stops out and trading as normally as we could have done. We have a strong community presence and work closely with the local schools and Chamber of Trade.
How is your online service faring? It's doing well, we have increased the number of slots we offer by 50% in the past year. We have a wide coverage of the area and are planning to add another van soon so we will have three. Waitrose is now looking to revamp its website.
What's the local competition like? There are no other supermarkets in Marlborough, so we are quite fortunate in terms of competition. It's quite a unique town with a wide high street and we are in the centre. We have a number of independents, butchers and delis in the area that we have worked alongside for many years. The nearest multiples are Tesco and Morrisons, but they are some distance away so we don't tread on each others' toes too much.
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