Tesco Richmond Metro

This is a perfectly average Tesco for your perfectly average weekly shop. They stock all the things one usually needs during the week (fresh veg, dairy products, meats, breakfast foods, etc.) and offer a variety extras. The selection of lunch items seems reasonable, but I’ve only tried them once or twice – there are other shops from which I’d prefer to buy my lunch. The fruit and veg is generally OK, but there are times where nothing looks good, and you are better off visiting one of the other near-​by shops for produce.
The place seems to be busy most of the time. It’s especially busy at lunch times (someone PLEASE show me a supermarket in Richmond which isn’t), after work hours and Sunday mornings. I found the best time to shop was Thursday evening, but it’s a bit of an awkward time to do a weekly shop.
The number of self-​check tills is quite good – if they were all open all the time. Often during busy times it seems half the tills are closed and you have to wait ages for people to figure out the concept of self-​check and be on their way.
One thing Tesco added in the past few months that almost makes it worth an extra star is what I like to refer to as 10 feet/​3 meters of heaven: an American foods aisle. You can now buy your Lucky Charms (£5 a box – not too extortionate compared to other places), Butterfinger bars, root beer, Hamburger Helper and other American favourites in this store. It’s bliss, and exactly what this expat needed to raise her spirits.

You don’t need a review to tell you what Tescos is. But as fort THIS Tesco, well.
It’s always busy, especially around lunchtimes when drones of office workers descend to its sandwich aisle. It has a pretty decent range of food and groceries, both for someone who wants to pop in and pick a couple of bits up, or for people in the area who want to do a weekly shop.
The staff are usually helpful, but the tills can often get congested.
It’s definitely a key example of ‘pile it high and sell it cheap’ — if you fancy a bit of real choice and variety, then Waitrose is a much more preferable alternative.

I’ve confessed, before, to being far from the number one fan of the omnipotent chain. However, for several reasons, slightly reluctantly, I found myself in this branch recently. It’s on the larger side for a Metro branch, yet quite easy to navigate around and find items in.
Aside from the usual supermarket fare there’s a serve-​yourself hot drink section and a ‘fast’ queue (which gets very long) if you’re just buying a hot drink, a quick snack or a handful of items.
What impressed me most here was the super-​smiling and ultra-​efficient help I had when as I used the self-​checkout area. It hasn’t moved to the top of my supermarket list but it definitely scores more highly than other (a few) branches I’ve experienced.

Beware, if you have been to this store in the past you might, like I did, wish to enter through the west part of the entrance. That large door has been firmly shut recently, leading me to nearly make my already ski slope nose into something altogether more grotesque. You now have to step over a few meters and enter through the other part. Is this advice totally redundant — well don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s only a little Tesco, Express I believe is the correct nomenclature. However, a tasty budget conscious suggestion: get your cashew nuts here in the large 1kg packet from the exotic food isle (you know near the carribean food and other niche bits). It’s a lot cheaper than the dainty 100 gram packets sold near the fresh fruit and veg. (Not) interestingly Sainsburys doesn’t even sell the big packets at all. So stock up!