Blog: A fresh approach for Tesco at its remodelled Watford Extra

Today was my second trip to Tesco’s remodelled Extra store in Watford this week and each time customers have come up to me to tell me how much they like the store. And each time the car park has been rammed full.

One shopper today, who was pushing around his week old baby, told me he had been telling his friends the night before on Facebook how great the store was. So great, he went back the next day.

While such enthusiasm is expected in the first few weeks of a store relaunch, it has to be said that Tesco has done a good job.

Boss Phil Clarke has talked for some time about how the internet has changed the way people shop and how Tesco needed to rework the big box stores it has.

Tesco Watford is the first iteration of this and if you wanted to spend leisure time at a store, it wouldn’t be a bad place to go.

The Giraffe restaurant is a great addition - perfect for families - and the Harris + Hoole coffee shop is a vast improvement on any large store’s cafe - although I’m not sure Watford will love its prices.

The bakery - both Euphorium and The Bakery Project - really stand out, while the fresh aisles are a huge step change for Tesco. If it wanted to shout out quality in fresh, it’s definitely done this.

The non-food areas are well designed to ease browsing. Gone are the pile it high aisles, and in is a much more department store feel. While Sainsbury’s has been the pioneer in terms of store design for non-food with its King’s Lynn format, Tesco’s Watford design gives its competitor a run for its money.

The big difference I felt was in the feel of the store. Extra shops - and other grocers’ hypermarkets - can feel boxed in, dark and hard to shop.

Tesco Watford by contrast felt light, airy and low-level merchandising meant you could easily find your way around the store.

The new elements now give Tesco a menu of options to play with across the country. And while Giraffe, Harris + Hoole or ‘misty veg’ may not work in all stores, the format can be flexed to provide the right fit for each location.

Whether it will become a leisure destination as Tesco wants is up to Watford but what the grocer has created is a much more pleasant store environment to do your shopping. And one which is scalable.