On 21st January, I visited the Huntingdon branch of Tesco.
There were several items that I intended to buy, mostly consisting of gluten free products, snacks and fresh ingredients to make homemade dishes.
Throughout my visit, three things appeared to be most striking about the store. The first being that it was evident that staff members felt they did not have enough to do.
On several previous visits to the store, I’d noticed how several members of staff appear to gather near the checkouts, presumably supervising the general flow of customers using the checkouts.
On more then one occasion, including this visit, I’d noticed how there were three to four staff members stood together talking.
This made the fact that I had to look for a basket by a checkout, slightly more frustrating as there were not any at all by the front door. Presumably this was not the role of the staff members standing and talking by the checkouts.
It’s always been recognised by me and my wife that the range of gluten free items sold by Tesco is very large, predominantly in their dry foods section, but also a range in the freezer section that albeit isn’t very large, is larger that most of their competitors.
This meant that we were able to buy a wide range of gluten free snack items, as well as breaded items and a small selection of freezer based items. As mentioned, the overall selection is good especially compared to competitors of Tesco.
Possibly the most significant aspect of the shopping trip, was how the food purchased at Tesco appeared to be slightly more expensive than comparable items from competitors, such as Sainsburys.
Our £106 shop consisted of a two packs of dog food, a range of gluten free products, a small range of snack items and some ingredients for making main course meals.
Out of all of the items we purchased, items in particular that appeared to be slightly more expensive compared to competitors included fresh tomatoes, whole chicken, sausages, bacon and organic milk.
On average, these items were approximately 30p - £1 more than the competitors of Tesco charge.