This place should be the Sainsburys flagship in the north. Instead it is shoddily run and some of the selections bizarre. A couple of years ago there was huge expansion here to include a full pharmacy, a large clothes and home section and an extended Starbucks area and this is when the place started it's sad slide.
In May this year on a Thursday before a bank holiday there was no broccolli, lettuce, spring onions, bananas or avocado. Yet there was more asaparagus than I have ever seen - a few hundred packs! I complained and was told that the shop has an auto-replenish system and because the place had been quiet not much had been ordered. This is very poor - no manual override for one of the biggest weekends of the year? Apparently not. It's mainly the fresh produce section which is so unpredictable and on many occasions the above fruit and veg and more have been out of stock - fresh herbs are also very random. Bread stocks are very unpredictable. They stopped selling pork fillet on the butcher's counter a few weeks ago.
I've been buying my groceries from various Sainsburys for over 20 years and this is easily the most unreliable store I have been to, despite being the biggest I know. I believe firmly in customer loyalty but as I often have to make 2 shopping trips (filling up what on Sainsburys doesn't have in Morrisons down the road) so I have kept going back. Sadly those days are numbered as this supermarket is so consistently inefficient.
You may be wondering why a 2 star review as opposed to 1. The reason is simple - the staff here are exceptional. Friendly, polite, helpful to the extent that I've got to know them very well. Dealing with them is always a pleasure as they are so genuinely pleasant. They are the thing I'll miss and what has made me go back for so long.
If it's a comprehensive supermarket experience you want go to Asda in town or Morrisons a mile away. read more