Having watched the doors of the London-bound train close in my face and not wanting to sit on the cold metal bench at Martins Heron station for the next hour, waiting for the next London-bound train, I decided to head into Tesco for no other reason than warmth and to cure boredom.
It's a big Tesco. I've never been in a big Tesco. I'm a Sainsbury's kind of girl. Anyway, the store offers free wifi (which I'm using right now!). At a high level, it's poorly laid out. The entrance leads to the clothing section, the produce section is in the back of the store, and the frozen items are near the tills. The layout sort of reminds me of a Super Wal-Mart in the US, minus a McDonald's and plus a Costa. Logically, it's smart to have the frozen section near the tills because this minimizes the amount of time frozen items are out of the freezer before checking out, so I'm OK with this. I'm not OK with the produce section being located in the back of the store and the clothing section being located near the entrance. Produce should be front-and-center, not in a spot that is difficult or time-consuming or complicated to get to. And who's gonna need to "run to Tesco" quick for a new pair of tights? I suspect not many. It's more likely that someone is gonna need to "run to Tesco" quick for, say, eggs or salad or bread or milk. And all of those items are located in the back of the store - the furthest from the tills! Not logical.
Note: Sainsbury's has better produce than this Tesco did. Salad/lettuce was brown and basically ready for the rubbish bin.
The Costa space is nice. Service was friendly though the barista could not understand my American accent and I had to repeat everything I said thrice. She made a good coffee and it warmed me up, so job well done. Job well done. Job well done. read more