Huge Tesco store is Milton Keynes’ best supermarket

It’s been described as “the UK’s most American city” thanks to its infamous grid layout, as well as the country’s “most ridiculed city”, but Milton Keynes is doing a grand job of upending expectations. For starters, it was recently shortlisted to be UK City of Culture 2029 alongside Blackpool, Sheffield and Wrexham, thanks to its impressive offering of theatres, galleries and music venues – a fine way to chip away at the city’s reputation for blandness.

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But MK, as it’s often known by locals, also boasts excellent transport links to London as well as a knack for attracting technology, professional services and large multinational corporations such as Santander Bank and Mercedes-Benz. As such, the city is increasingly popular with professionals, families and first-time buyers – its population, which skews young, has grown past its original target of 250,000, with plans afoot to build up the area to accommodate tens of thousands of new inhabitants.

The catchment is also notable for its “considerable socioeconomic breadth”, according to CACI, with representation across most groups sitting “close to or modestly below the national baseline…pointing to a broad-based, mixed-tenure demographic profile typical of a large, planned town rather than one skewed sharply towards affluence or deprivation”.

That broad population is well catered for when it comes to supermarkets, too, with Aldi and Lidl having the greatest presence. The two discounters feature in this week’s Super Grocer 33 mystery shop, but it was Tesco that walked away with the title this week with a huge total of 91.

The giant 88,523 sq ft store at the Kingston Centre did have one item out of stock but excelled in all other areas. Our shopper found its scale “impressive” if “slightly overwhelming at first” but ultimately praised “how easy and enjoyable the shop was to use despite its size”. This was thanks to the “huge range” of products, wide aisles that “made it comfortable to move around” and “very helpful” staff for whom it felt like “customer service remained a priority even during busy periods”.

Ten points back in second came Aldi on Barnsdale Drive, which turned in this week’s only perfect score for availability despite being our smallest store – just one-eighth of the size of our winner. The store also excelled on customer service, with staff who were “really knowledgeable, friendly and happy to help”. Our shopper also liked the wide aisles but was less keen on the freezer section, where she “did struggle to find things”.

Just one point behind in third was another gargantuan store, the 101,091 sq ft Asda on Bletcham Way, not far from famed Second World War codebreaking hub Bletchley Park. Our shopper liked “how large the store and car park” were because it meant “parking wasn’t a struggle like at many other stores”. She also praised “the availability of staff members”, all of whom were “friendly, helpful and knowledgeable”, but felt the toilets “could benefit” from more regular restocking of toilet rolls and cleaning.

A single point was also enough to knock Morrisons back into fourth on 79. The 48,852 sq ft store on Barnsdale Drive was hit hard by out-of-stocks, but our shopper praised the “knowledgeable” staff who were able to point him to the “exact aisle” he required. However, poor signage meant he “felt lost” at times, while the self-checkout experience was “chaotic” with one staff member left to look after 19 checkouts and “really struggling to keep up”, which made our shopper “feel bad” for them.

Fifth place, again just one point back on 78, went to Waitrose on Babbage Gate. The comparatively dinky 29,046 sq ft store among this week’s land of the giants had a tough time on availability with four items out of stock – our shopper described the “missing stock on shelves” as the “worst part” of her shop. However, the fresh flowers and pumpkins at the entrance made the store “enticing to enter”, and staff were “friendly and helpful”.

The 63,373 sq ft Sainsbury’s store on Witan Gate came sixth this week on 75, not helped by three out-of-stocks despite its size. Indeed, our shopper noted there were “lots of missing items across each category of shopping” at this city centre store. She disliked that location but did “particularly like” the underground car park “that protects customers from any weather”, the “swift and efficient service” and the “wide aisles”.

The gap to last place was considerably bigger than the tight differences that separated second and sixth place. A full 14 points back on 61 came Lidl on Stratford Road. The 15,327 sq ft store looked new and offered “ample space” despite being busy, but the trip was dominated by one member of staff who was “very rude and sarcastic when I asked where items were”. Our shopper “wouldn’t go back because of the behaviour” and summed up their abiding memory of the shop in two words: “rude staff”.