Scotmid Coop Drumnadrochit - Inverness

Luke D.

Sorry I hate to do this sort of review but I’ve been visiting this store for over a month now since living here and I have to say it is repugnant.

It is constantly filthy no matter what time of day you go in, whether it’s 7:30 or 19:30 there will be rubbish all over the floors, dust everywhere, half open packaging, in stocked shelves and empty fridges and freezers. It’s honestly shocking. The staff also are incredibly rude. There’s a large lady that works there who screamed at my partner for pointing to the vape fluid he needed only resorting to pointing as she was struggling to find the one he was asking for queue full of customers and she literally shouted at the top of her voice “DONT POINT!” she also rushes through the shop practically barging customers out of the way not saying excuse me but loudly saying “MOVE”

It’s by far the worst retail store I have ever been in. From a health and safety point there’s always spillages or kick stools lying around or single packs of stock cluttered on the floor, not stacked so people actually see it, they push cages rather than pull and almost always nearly hit or make contact with customers. From a food hygiene point of view there’s no hand washing regularly see them switch from till to servers with no gloves on, the fact the floors are never swept or cleaned immediately gives a filthy impression, they blame business but it’s not it’s sheer laziness. I stop in the spar at fort Augustus which is ten times busier than this store and it’s always got an equal level of staff and sure sometimes it can look shopped but it never looks like this! It’s always clean and bright! There’s no excuse. I see the manager in there all he seems to do is float around fridges putting out stock watching people wait on a self serve for 15 minutes to get a can of monster authorised which the staff just ignore.

I’ve worked above store level in retail and I understand the constraints that can seize an operation because of short staff, budget constraints or turnover problems however I would be implementing the following in stores on my patch with these issues:

1. Reduce services offered in store to focus on the customer - i.e, limit opening hours either beginning or end of day to allow for clean downs and adequate replen so you’re offering on shelf availability and a strong and most importantly SAFE customer journey.

2. Instead of having 2 staff stood doing nothing on tills first thing have them working and cleaning the aisles closest and in view of tills so they can redirect non behind the counter or servery customers to self check outs

3. Extend out of hours operating hours to allow for cleaning or replen.

4. Review the CCTV to ascertain if this is an issue of conduct or poor resource management in the store. 9 times out of 10 ineffective management teams can make a bad situation worse which I suspect strongly to be the case here at this Scot-mid.

Just a few suggestions… something needs to change as honestly it really is disgusting. High sales don’t excuse poor conduct, customer service, hygiene and safety. No doubt this is a volume turnover site. So it should be manned adequately, ran efficiently and well budgeted. I literally only go in this store because I have no alternative unless I’m going to Inverness or Fort Augustus, if it’s before 8am then unfortunately I have to stop there. Same if I’m on an off day and want to stay local. It’s a shame as you can see it has the potential to be a really fantastic store. Just the staff and the standards that are ruining it. Wouldn’t be surprised if that store could boost its sales by thousands a week just through a good replen routine, a strong customer focus with health and safety and hygiene at the forefront and staff that don’t bark and shout at customers. The photos I have added were taken first thing it’s disgusting that any store manager would open their doors to the public like this.

SJC B.

Used to be good, but nowadays there's only ever one person at the tills, even when there's a queue of ten people. Self checkout is no quicker as most items require approval, which staff either don't notice or don't care about the big flashing red light about the checkout. Unfortunately it's the only supermarket in a 20 mile radius.

Norrie M.

rude to customers, maybe they don't like visitors. Both myself and my wife experienced bad customer service and rudeness from staff. Loch Ness attacks lots of visitors into the area and spend in local retail good manners is the lest we should offer as a welcome

Richard S.

Shop is fine, though we found the staff a touch short and rude to customers.
Standing in the queue so watched for a while.
Asked if there was any water anywhere, got the answer....
" tourists....
Busy....
What can I do?"
Noticed staff on tills being quite rude to customers, and we felt very uncomfortable as foreign customers were being treated very badly. After all, they are guests in our country and should be treated with more respect.
Staff need more training in customer service and maybe some common sense would help.

Alan W.

After a 10 hour drive we arrived in Drumnadrochit, I went to this coop to get a few supplies, the store was busy with other tourists, it was dirty and most of the shelves were empty, usually coop is a nice place to shop not this one. Then I got to the checkout, my son was with me helping to carry the baskets as they only had small baskets and no trolleys, they then refused to serve me alcohol because my son had carried a basket and had no ID. I explained that he was my son and he was under 18 so had no ID and showed my ID. a manager was called who was rude and ignorant and told the lady serving to put it through the till as a refusal. I could see people in the queue looking on in utter disbelief. I later found out that they don't like tourist's, clearly don't realise that customers pay their wages. I would say this is the worst coop I have ever had the misfortune of going in and for the next fortnight they won't get any of my business which is usually a lot when I'm on holiday.

Patricia A.

Most staff are ok but there's a larger lady who has no manners and is down right insulting to the people she serves! Why is she still working there? Her customer skills got buried along with her politeness. I always say please and thank you. Maybe she doesn't understand courtesy!

Mark

Convenient for tourists, a good selection of things that you've forgotten on your trip. They don't have everything however and it's probably a bit more expensive.

John A.

I recommend this shop as an exceptional experience, a serious condender for the rudest staff anywhere in the uk.
Whilst overpriced, understocked and unclean.
The rather large lady shouted at my father for placing his basket at the til with the expectation of being served.