Tesco Extra - Yardley - 22nd March 2014

On a circuit around the Birmingham outer ring road, the A4040, I came across the Tesco Extra in Yardley, so I thought I would head over there and visit. It's a new supermarket which has been open for around a year or two and also has other shops such as Sports Direct, Specsavers, Brantano and Subway.

So, what is it like? The criteria is as follows.

1. Clean - yes, in general.
2. Friendly staff - they are generally friendly. They kindly offered to pack but I decided that I wanted to pack.
3. Aisle width - wide and you can fit at least two trolleys in each aisle. I shopped there at around 9:30pm so it was quite quiet.
4. Everything I was looking for was in stock - Yes, it is well stocked and has lots of things that you can buy. Not a lot of items are reduced as I headed there really late.
5. Extras: pharmacy/opticians/specialist food/petrol station - There is a petrol station with unleaded at 127.9p per litre, which is quite cheap. There is also a pharmacy, an opticians, and a salon! You can have a haircut there which sounds bizarre to me. There is also a specialist halal butcher section as there is a significant Asian population. Of course, the deli, butcher, fishmonger and hot food section is available. In addition, there is a World Foods section where you can buy specialist goods from abroad. The Chinese foods section looks impressive and contains a selection of items that you can buy from a Chinese supermarket - in many ways, similar to the Tesco Extra in Dudley. Finally, you can buy Tesco's Finest clotted cream at £1.95, so it is Churchcentral Forward friendly. No cafe though - as there is a Subway opposite.
6. Fresh produce with long sell-by dates - Yes. There is a section of reduced items but it's not reduced much, around a third.
7. Opening Hours - 6am Monday to 12 midnight Saturday and it's open 24 hours. On Sundays, it's open from 11am to 5pm. Exceptional opening hours.
8. Speed of till-processing - lots of tills available, but only two to three manned as I went there at 9:30pm.
9. Self-service tills available - yes, though as the manned tills were not busy, it's better to head there.
10. Parking facilities - yes and plenty available. Parking restrictions of 3 hours but plenty of time for you to head to the supermarket and other shops too as it's in a shopping centre.
11. Value for money - part of the big four supermarkets, they do have quite a lot of special offers. Obviously, some items are more expensive in Tesco than in other supermarkets so you need to shop around!
12. Organic produce - available if you want them.
13. Cash machine or cash back - Tesco Bank cash machines are available outside. Tesco also offers cash back when you shop.
14. Pedestrian access - yes and are step free.

Overall, I am really impressed with this supermarket as it's big and the layout of the supermarket is impressive. You can head upstairs to buy clothes, electrical items and other non-food items. All the essentials are downstairs. As it's situated in East Birmingham, I'm unlikely to head there normally but if you live near there, it's the supermarket to go to!

Rating: 9 out of 10