After the pummelling that Tesco has handed out to other supermarket retailers in recent years, it's…read morebeen a tough haul back for those other brands. However, Sainsburys has been fighting back and I believe it has achieved it by infusing its supermarkets with an air of quality. This Sainsburys is the only large supermarket in Leatherhead town centre and is conveniently located about 5 minutes drive from my workplace. It's quite cool in having its own dedicated lift to the Swan Centre car park. Sainsburys seem to have made their shops brighter and easier to navigate. They also seem to be quite innovative, for example allowing their customers who hold Nectar cards to get a handheld scanner and scan their items as they put goods in their basket and go to a shorter queue and pay what's on the scanner (random checks are carried out to make sure customers are ahem scanning properly) My only criticism is that sometimes queues can build up at the normal checkouts. Perhaps they could do with flexible workers who can open up extra checkout lanes at busy times, like they have at Tesco. Truth be told, I sometimes shop here as it's convenient rather than cheap but at least Sainsburys are making it a pleasant experience.

As the creeping takeover by the big supermarket chains continues, the high streets are now not…read moreimmune to the steady invasion by those chains. This Tesco Express has a range of goods but be aware that they're more expensive than at the Tesco supermarkets. I have to confess to buying cheese straws here for staff at work but I shop at the other shops on Craddocks Parade for my other grocery needs - William Dyer butchers for fantastic meat and pies, Card's across the road for my fruit, Allison's bakery for pastries and Stems for flowers. Even in a small parade of shops, you can find local independent businesses selling better quality stuff with more variety. So, please support them! To be fair, Tesco also offer a cashpoint service (provided by Royal Bank of Scotland), which is convenient. I mainly posted this review because of the sign I spotted on the door, which may explain some of the recent riots we've witnessed. Tesco have a big warning sign to any potential robbers on the door, advising them of a smoke system which will deploy if they enter the premises and Tesco have to explicitly say that they won't be liable for any injuries. As far as I'm concerned, if you break in anywhere, you lose all rights. If you break your leg in the smoke, tough. If the big German Shepherd guard dog bites you, tough. If the shopkeeper gives you concussion with a baseball bat, tough. It's time the lawyers, judges and politicians get on the side of the victims.

I have absolutely no idea when this arrived in what is known as Lower Ashtead, does take up a lot…read moreof room as most supermarkets, and I cannot recall what was there before, apart from the fact there were at least 3 independents there originally.

Being part of the John Lewis group, Waitrose has some kudos for being an employee-owned partnership…read morebut their prices have always been that bit higher than the other supermarkets. Hence my aversion to shop here for the staples but I found it useful to pick up certain rare ingredients such as squid ink over the years. I've also been a fan of their free laminated menu cards available just after the checkout counters - you can buy special storage boxes to keep these in. However, Waitrose have had a bit of a renaissance in the last year, thanks to their stroke of marketing genius by involving Heston Blumenthal of 3 Michelin star Fat Duck fame to write recipes for them, where you can only get the ingredients from Waitrose. Running TV adverts demonstrating those simple recipes and simultaneously discounting those ingredients in-store is such a clever idea - a recent example I remember is during the recent English asparagus season when it was paired with lapsang-suchong tea-smoked salmon and dunked in soft boiled eggs. Heston's special Christmas pudding also brought so many customers into Waitrose last Christmas that it sold out weeks before the big day. So hats off to you, Waitrose for recognising this man's genius and using it to your advantage

Whoops? Looked for the paper stand just inside the entrance, but saw pay and go machines there…read moreinstead. Was I sure I was in Waitrose? Was this a dream? NO it was NOT!1

I came across this service on the way back from Devon on the A303. Thought that was the first and…read moreonly one; now I am begging to see them locally. Decent café stop there, but this is more of a garage newsagent, come small grocery unit. And its on The Parade , Kingston Road.

In the current economic downturn, there have apparently been winners and losers in the food retail…read moresector. Even the more luxurious stores have been forced to launch budget lines in an effort to keep their customers Co-operative foods must be doing well. At least in Epsom where this new Co-op has opened up opposite the station to complement its sister store on the Upper High Street The Co-op's tag line is that they're an ethical supermarket, which does appeal to my general philosophy of life. However, I find their stock of goods doesn't meet my shopping needs. They have relatively little fresh meat, fish and vegetables, my staples. That's a real shame as I would like to be a better customer here but opening a second location in the same town must mean they're doing OK