‘Excellent’ standards earn Preston Waitrose the win

Preston boasts a rich industrial heritage given its status as one of the great cotton towns of the industrial revolution. And while history still looms large over the city thanks to more than 70 English Heritage-listed buildings, Gothic churches and more, Preston also embraces its modern and youthful side. The University of Lancashire bestows a large student population on the city, with many drawn to its relatively low cost of living compared to nearby Manchester and Liverpool, both of which are well served by fast, direct transport links.

Preston also boasts easy access to the countryside, including the sweeping valleys of the Forest of Bowland as well as the Lancashire coast. Back in the city centre, Fishergate provides a mix of high street stalwarts and independent shops, while commuters and young families aspire to affluent neighbourhoods such as Fulwood, with its spacious homes and parks.

As with many former industrial strongholds, though, Preston is also punctuated by pockets of hardship. All three of CACI’s most affluent demographics are underrepresented in Preston, while the city overindexes most strongly for those in the Low Income Living bracket (21.2% vs a national average of 13.3%).

Nonetheless, it was Waitrose that took the win this week with a superb score of 95. Located on the Capitol Centre retail park a couple of miles outside the city centre, the store provided this week’s only perfect availability score despite being considerably smaller than all its rivals.

Our shopper was most impressed by the “availability and friendliness” of the staff, which was “commendable”. In total, he “interacted with three members of staff, and every one of them was excellent, helpful and engaged throughout”.

Store standards were “excellent” overall, while food to go and specialist counters were “well presented, fully staffed and the range on offer looked appealing across the board”. The main downside was the look and feel of the store, which our shopper felt should have been “a bit classier and more premium” given its price point.

About two miles north, located on Blackpool Road next to Deepdale Shopping Park, Tesco took second place this week with 83. The store scored best on accessibility, with our shopper remarking that the car park was “very tidy with lots of spaces and room to manoeuvre”.

But it was the sheer speed with which she was able to complete her shop – just 25 minutes – that will stay with her, she said. This was thanks to it being “very quiet with lots of room”, “clear signage” and aisles with “no debris”. She also praised the “very helpful” staff but would have liked the store to provide a café so she could sit down and have a coffee.

Just one point behind on 82 was Morrisons on Riversway near Preston Marina to the west of the city. Our shopper comes to this store “about once a month”, usually when it has “great offers” on, despite having four supermarkets nearer to her house. While it’s the offers that usually draw her, she also noted that products are “easy to find” thanks partly to aisles that are “wide and labelled correctly”. Meanwhile, staff were “helpful” and “working hard”, and our shopper was particularly taken by the back to school 5p fruit offer, which “has stayed with me”.

Fourth place went to Asda in the sought-after suburb of Fulwood, though the store put in this week’s worst performance on availability with two items out of stock and one not stocked. This is our shopper’s regular store, because “it’s closest to my house”, and despite it “looking a bit tired”.

She loves the “huge” offering of products and the “very friendly” staff – particularly the woman on the checkout who “made nice conversation” – but found the store “very busy so difficult to move around”. Indeed, our shopper’s suggestion for how the store could be improved was to “make the aisles wider so there’s more room”.

Last place this week went to Sainsbury’s on Cuerden Way despite a perfectly respectable score of 71. Indeed, our shopper said there was “nothing” she disliked about the shop, despite small annoyances such as “trying to locate chicken that was in a non-logical place and not with the other cooked meats”. She particularly liked the “easy” car park “because I can find parking stressful” and also praised “how easy it was to navigate” the store and that in the main “there were plenty of staff to help”.