Last weekend, I decided to visit Korea Foods, also known as Seoul Plaza 6, an Oriental supermarket, in Selly Oak. It is supposed to offer competitions to the bigger Chinese supermarkets, that being the two Day in Supermarkets in the city centre, and the Wing Yip in Nechells.
Korea Foods comes from a former convenience store that was closed for a couple of years and reopened five years ago. Back then, I heard positive reviews from many students about this store, including myself.
So, how would it fare this time with my "supermarket critic" hat on?
The "revised" criteria is as follows.
- Clean - Could be better. The store aisles were cluttered with boxes with stock yet to be put out and meant that it could have been better. There is a Korean takeaway inside the superstore, and the staff appear to be hygienic as they do wear gloves when serving food.
- Friendly staff - Sort of. No formal greeting of "Hello" in the counter but they do pack bags for me so that's a plus.
- Aisle width - unfortunately due to the size (and it being a former convenience store), the aisles are narrow. It is a struggle to fit two narrow trolleys side by side and often you do need to say "Excuse me" to get through. Also, the queuing system is a bit of a shambles as it can block an entire aisle! That's if it's busy, which wasn't for a Saturday afternoon, which was shocking. But then, the students are on holidays. However, you could argue that as most international students shop there, then that's not a good sign.
- Everything I was looking for was in stock - Inconsistent. You cannot buy "Shrimp flavoured noodles" by Sau Tao. Nor can you buy dairy products. However, there is a generally good selection of other items.
- Extras: pharmacy/opticians/specialist food/petrol station - Specialist Oriental stock plus a Korean takeaway,
- Fresh produce with long sell-by dates - Variable - can be awesome to absolutely shocking. Most of the canned goods and packaged goods have long sell-by dates. However, if you want to buy fresh eggs, look somewhere else. Not only the eggs are expensive, the expiry date was on the day - 16th April! I find that's an insult especially if you want to buy fresh goods. Also, it seems that there is a lack of stock auditing. One pack of "Fresh Chinese fishcakes" was just dumped in the freezer with an expiry date of "14th April" so the staff don't really seem to care about checking stock. Shocking if you ask me. Fortunately, the fresh fishcakes that were on sales had a reasonable expiry date.
- Opening Hours - As it's the size of a convenience store, the opening hours are good. It opens from 9am to 9pm every day. Very convenient for the students.
- Speed of till-processing - two manned tills available. Could be faster, and could be a lot more cheerful.
- Self-service tills available - No.
- Parking facilities - Not a lot. There's three or four spaces outside the store, otherwise you will need to park at one of the side streets in Selly Oak.
- Value for money - Terrible. Most stock is more expensive than Day in Supermarket and Wing Yip. Not impressed that it has shorter sell-by dates and the stock being more expensive.
- Organic produce - not as far as I am aware of.
- Cash machine or cash back - Two cash machines available outside Korea Foods. Cash back not available and you do need to purchase a minimum of £5 when using a credit or debit card (sorry no American Express)
- Pedestrian access - Good. No step meaning that it's good for disabled access.
- Space Utilisation - Generally space is well used with no wastage of space.
Overall, I'm disappointed with Korea Foods. It has gone downhill since when I was a student. Prices are expensive, goods could be fresher, and staff could be friendlier. I feel that the Korean takeaway is their saving grace. If you want fully stocked Oriental goods, head either to Day in Supermarket or Wing Yip
Rating: 5 out of 10 (-2 for fresh goods, -0.5 for parking, -1 for friendly staff, -1 for value for money, -0.5 for aisle width)
Photo courtesy of Korea Foods (www.koreafoods.co.uk)
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