There are three Co-ops in Herne Bay. One in Beltinge, one towards Hampton, and this one which is the most central. There are two entrances to this Co-op. One from the high street and one from Mortimer street. The high street entrance provides a very limited amount of parking (can get very hectic during peak times - would not recommend) that has several warning signs advertising the fact your car will probably be clamped, hence why I do not recommend it. Street parking can be found around the corner. Facilities: This Co-op provides a cash machine (surprisingly free of charge) and a post office. The post office queue is always huge and some of the staff are not that polite but seeing as post offices are closing all the time we do not really have a choice, we just have to bear it. There are two cigarette kiosks, one by each entrance. The one by the high street entrance is always incredibly busy and understaffed and only on several occasions have I seen the stores one checkout actually opened. The Co-op is not a supermarket it is a convenience store. As a result prices are dear and variation of products is limited. Saying that they always have a good range of vegetables, still rather pricey but at least there's a good range. Your not going to get any meat if you go in late afternoon. There is never that much there and you can only assume they have run out or not bothered to stock up the shelves. They do sometimes run good offers and their alcohol section, for some reason is probably the biggest and well stocked department of the store. This is probably a sign of Herne Bay's gradual decline into alcoholism. They also have a large selection of magazines and papers so if you fancy grabbing a few cans of SuperBREW and reading the Evening Post then by all means head down to the local co-op. Overall: Understaffed, always has long queues, not enough stock, dear, an excuse for a post office. read more

Herne Bay Co-op is situated on Herne Bay high street. It has a car park with a limited amount of space and a post office. The shop has two entrances, one in Mortimer street and one from the car park. Appearance: The Co-op has always been a convenience store rather than a supermarket however this store is quite large. It has two cigarette kiosks (one never seems open) and two standard tills. The post office is towards the rear of the shop and is normally quite well staffed. The layout of the shop is quite good and you are able to find products quickly. Staff: In my opinion this Co-op store always seems to be understaffed. There are never enough staff working on the tills and you are normally forced to join a large queue that goes up an aisle. Similarly there never seems to be that many staff working on the shop floor. The majority of the staff are quite pleasant however some of the younger staff are rude when serving you. Staff members who work in the post office (not Co-op staff members) are very polite considering the post office is busy all day. This is the only centrally located post office and they do receive a lot of customers so be prepared to stand in a long queue. Products & Availability: For its size this store stocks quite a large number of items ranging from papers through to seasonal items like disposable barbecues. However as it is not actually a supermarket you may not find the items you are looking for. They have a large frozen selection but it is all at quite high prices and you would benefit more from shopping at the Iceland round the corner. My main bug bear about Co-op is that they seem to have an availability issue with fresh meat. I can never find what I want and the chillers often look messy and disorganised. They do however have quite a large selection of alcohol. The Co-op is not a cheap store, they don't need to be. For the convenience you pay an extra few pence which is fair enough as it means you're not forced to go to the dreaded Morrisons. read more