Waitrose & Partners Southend Reviews Summary

Store Atmosphere and Cleanliness

Pros:

• "The store is always very clean & the staff are friendly and helpful."
• "Relaxing and peaceful atmosphere - helpful assistants and excellent customer service."
• "Always a pleasure to walk around, without any obstructions in the aisles."
• "Shopping is a delight, food tempting, displayed and laid out nice."
• "Has always been clean whenever I've been there."
• "The cleanliness of the store is brilliant."
• "Clean and spacious - my Waitrose card gives you offers for the things you buy."

Cons:

• "The car park was full of rubbish and then I find you have moved the produce around and I spent most of my time looking for things!"
• "Rather grim.. Forgetting Christmas crush still a confusing layout."
• "Take extra care when pushing the trolley between your car and the shop, the road surface and the pedestrian way are uneven."
• "Stinking 20+ year old customer toilets not cleaned with gunk everywhere, holey dirty floors held together by dirty tape."

Customer Service

Pros:

• "Staff were friendly, helpful and informative."
• "Her kindness and service went way beyond what I expected."
• "Friendly and helpful staff. Jackie A went over and beyond with helping in every way possible."
• "The cashier was friendly and engaging."
• "His manner was so caring, friendly & considerate not only to me but to all the other customers."
• "The staff are so friendly and helpful."
• "Always found the staff here to be very helpful."

Cons:

• "Clearly most of the staff have attitude and rudeness to customers."
• "He was quite rude when I asked him if they were going to get it back in stock."
• "This nasty woman come towards me say with the attitude what have you done."
• "However, there were a lot of staff stood around chatting."
• "Very disappointing a member of staff in the shopping aisle that wouldn't move plus other staff members just standing around chatting."
• "Staff unhelpful and grumpy and prices very high and not competitive."
• "Poorly managed and maintained... staff who stand around chatting."

Product Selection and Quality

Pros:

• "And not necessarily pricey either. You just have to be a bit canny about what you buy."
• "Good parking space, excellent customer services, product availability, wide aisles easy to move around."
• "High quality groceries in spacious supermarket with the additional benefit of a small John Lewis section selling a variety of goods including TV's and electrical goods."
• "It has a huge variety for you to choose from. From essential to gourmet."
• "The quality is unrivalled."
• "Quality of food superb, especially the vegetarian options."
• "Fresh vegetables are of good quality and have excellent keeping qualities."

Cons:

• "Most of the goods here are a little pricey & there doesn't seem to be the choices you get in the other big supermarkets."
• "Prices expensive compared to m&s and their cheap range wasn't that much cheaper than full price."
• "Lack of vegan options was apparent from the off."
• "Recently, more often than not, the use by date on the majority of fresh products are very short, often with only one day remaining."
• "Love Waitrose and John Lewis but this store has serious issues with food not being fresh."
• "Overall, not good value for money and limited choice, food not actually that good quality considering the 'upmarket' image the store has."
• "Poor poor poor went there 30th to find most shelves empty no veg no fruit and what there was was on its last day shelve life not what you expect from the leading retailer."

Facilities and Layout

Pros:

• "Free parking + the post office has good hrs & very handy."
• "This store has the added benefit of having a Post Office in store too and is open 7 days a week."
• "Great store with the added bonus of John Lewis and somewhere to buy a bite to eat."
• "Free car park, Café, and John Lewis store, with click and collect, deliveroo and on-line shopping."
• "A Cheese deli counter is becoming a rarity these days in supermarkets, but this one in Waitrose is well-stocked with a big variety of cheeses."
• "Good range of products and well stocked, including a large home section."
• "This shop also sells some outdoor living goods, electronics & household goods in partnership with John Lewis and has excellent after sales service."

Cons:

• "No accessible tables are available only high tables and stools."
• "So they have blocked and closed the exits & everyone go in & out the one entrance, I would hate to think what would happen if there had to be an emergency evacuation."
• "At 12.30 the place was fairly crowded but if you wanted to have a serious lunch there there is not much choice."
• "Gluten free section is not very large and variety is limited."
• "No real hot breakfast anymore. No wheat free options, not even cake or pastry."
• "It used to be very nice but it's gone downhill, the cafe only take cash because the tills are broken."
• "But the rest must have been designed by a deranged monkey..a perfect example of how not to construct a car park...side entrances, exits split in two, and a one way system at the front of the store which the terminally bewildered seem to ignore on a regular basis."