Supermarket chain Booths to return employees to its stores
Christian Fernsby ▼ | November 13, 2023
UK supermarket chain Booths is axing almost all self service device in its stores.Article continues below
All but two of the 28 stores run by the company in northern England will have staffed checkouts. The exceptions are Keswick and Windermere, two of its Cumbria shops.
The firm, which has 16 stores in Lancashire as well as outlets in Yorkshire and Cheshire, said the policy was driven by customer feedback.
"We believe colleagues serving customers delivers a better customer experience and therefore we have taken the decision to remove self checkouts in the majority of our stores," the company said.
Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire, Booths managing director Nigel Murray, said: "Our customers have told us this over time, that the self scan machines that we've got in our stores they can be slow, they can be unreliable, they're obviously impersonal.
"We stock quite a lot of loose items - fruit and veg and bakery - and as soon as you go to a self scan with those you've got to get a visual verification on them, and some customers don't know one different apple versus another for example," he added.
"There's all sorts of fussing about with that and then the minute you put any alcohol in your basket somebody's got to come and check that you're of the right age."
Murray added: "We are a business that prides ourselves on the high standards and high levels of warm, personal care.
"We like to talk to people and we're really proud that we're moving largely to a place where our customers are served by people, by human beings, so rather than artificial intelligence, we're going for actual intelligence."
The company, which has been described as a northern Waitrose, said its philosophy since 1847 is to "sell the best goods available, in attractive stores, staffed with first class assistants".
"Delighting customers with our warm northern welcome is part of our DNA and we continue to invest in our people to ensure we remain true to that ethos," the firm added. ■ What to read next
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