Waitrose

Since my last sponsor withdrew, I do have another this year and it asks me to cover all of Surrey! My Surveys will not be the same, as I will not have time to categorise each business, just to enter new ones, and notify closed ones or changes of Ownerships.
As far as Waitrose goes it has a new area for Trolleys and an Help desk on the left as you enter, with a pay and go, and a special queue for a quick till, together with a basket till marring up with the trolley pay tills.
Tony H Thespian.
Still Unilocaling!

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

Being part of the John Lewis group, Waitrose has some kudos for being an employee-​owned partnership but 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