Sainsburys Balham Grand Opening Day

By aloquifique | Wednesday, August 11, 2010, 23:33

It's been a big day in Balham today. Can't not mention on balhampeople the grand opening of the all new Sainsburys on Balham High Road. Sadiq Khan MP came along to cut the ribbon and bingo, people were queueing outside with their trolleys all vying for a glimpse of Balham's new shopping experience.

Jamie Moore R G Group Sainsbury's refit
Sainsburys new wide aisles
Sainsburys new counters

Before I tell you all about the nice wide aisles, and new bright decor, I just have to mention that die hard Waitrose shoppers were delighted too. For the past two weeks the Balham branch of Waitrose has been by all accounts hideous with long, long queues and packed aisles. It seems that Balham shoppers didn't want to travel much further to shop than across the High Road and not even to the small independent local shops. I checked back with Balham Fish Market to see if the closing of Sainsburys for two weeks had pushed up sales. "No, business as usual for us", said Salu. "It's not what we were expecting".

Now, back inside Sainsburys, I grabbed Jamie Moore from the R G Group who was responsible for the refit. He's worked on this store 3 times already. "It's a very busy store and it gets loads of wear and tear with all the customers coming through the doors. Hopefully we've created more space and it will be better for everyone. They've invested a lot of money to keep it as good as it is."

And it is good. Gone are the narrow spaces between the aisles. The dark floor and ceiling. The rather odd layout and dingy back shelves. The no-go zone external loo. Now the Store is certainly bright with a new white tiled floor. A new white respray for the ceiling. What seems like extremely wide aisles. New indoor toilets. Checkouts at both ends with the wider ones for trolleys near the car park! New counters and freezers and a much more practical linear way of shopping.

I spoke to Andy, an employee, who seemed delighted with the changes. "We've got more (product) lines that we had before and it seems less crowded even though there's the same amount of people shopping". He loved the fact that if you stand in the middle of the store you can see out of the windows at the front and at the back! Loads more daylight and a real feeling of space.

Customer feedback has been good. Lexi Proud wrote on Twitter. "New Sainsburys in Balham is 100% better. Loads more space, designated pay areas for trolleys on 1 side and baskets the opposite. Staff great!" Sarah Duggan also says on Twitter, "New Sainsbury's in Balham gets my thumbs up! Everyone's very excited in there today it's like a market!!"

So now Balham can go back to being Balham. Waitrose shoppers get their store back and Sainsburys shoppers that their store back and the local independents get to fight over the rest.

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Comments

Popped in to the new look Balham Sainsbury last nights after doing my usual shop at Waitrose.
First impressions from the car park was WOW but on entering the store that feeling disappeared - I found the lay out totally confusing its very large and difficult to find anything and the most annoying thing was the complete lack of staff on the shop floor couldn't kind a single person to ask for direction.

I'm sticking with Waitrose Balham and Waitrose Wandsworth for better service, knowledgeable staff and product range.

By Travel Matters Ltd at 13:25 on 03/09/10
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Popped in to the new look Balham Sainsbury last nights after doing my usual shop at Waitrose.
First impressions from the car park was WOW but on entering the store that feeling disappeared - I found the lay out totally confusing its very large and difficult to find anything and the most annoying thing was the complete lack of staff on the shop floor couldn't kind a single person to ask for direction.

I'm sticking with Waitrose Balham and Waitrose Wandsworth for better service, knowledgeable staff and product range.

By CMB 03.09.10

By Travel Matters Ltd at 13:25 on 03/09/10
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Teresa, I would would certainly agree with the man who was complaining, it would seem they have messed it up sadly and wasted a golden opportunity. In my view they more aiming for the quick fix shopper rather than the bulk shopper. I became disillusioned with Balham Sainsburys sometime ago and had hoped it would bring a much better store, sadly looking good doesn't mean better!
They have more space but reduced ranges and in some cases got rid or not even bothered to bring in new ranges, where the new layout may at least have provided that. Its just not quite there sadly.

I will continue to do my main shop at Clapham and my odds and ends at Balham, which is all its really good for! Sadly they didn't quite think it through! :(

By WeirEstate at 00:23 on 21/08/10
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Dave. I was in Sainsburys two days ago and a man was complaining to the chilled storage assistant that he now couldn't find his favourite apple pie. All that was in the chiller was Sainsburys own apple pie (not even the 'taste the difference' range) and that was it. The Assistant agreed that they had reduced certain lines to give space. But that doesn't make sense because seemingly the store is much bigger. What's going on?

By aloquifique at 19:06 on 20/08/10
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Fair enough. I certainly agree with your point about product range - there actually seems to be fewer items now than before! I'm reserving judgment.

By ianfreeman at 12:14 on 19/08/10
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