Asda, Barnes Hill - Saturday 30th January 2016

Having moved to Bartley Green, it's time to visit the supermarket that is closest to me and give a review! I've been to Asda, Barnes Hill before and previously gave it a 4 out of 10. Will it fare better this time?

The criteria is as follows.

1. Clean - yes, in general.
2. Friendly staff - could be better! The checkout lady didn't give me a welcome greeting but did mention "Have a good day" at the end.
3. Aisle width - wide enough to fit three trolleys. Though some aisles are congested with lots of customers - it was a Saturday morning after all!
4. Everything I was looking for was in stock - A good variety of items are in stock and I got the vast majority of items that I wanted. All the essentials were well stocked (Fruit and veg, meat, milk, fish, etc.) Aisles were well signposted so I didn't have to keep hunting for a particular item. The only thing I didn't get was the massively bargain pens at 30p for ten as that was sold out.
5. Extras: pharmacy/opticians/specialist food/petrol station - Opticians are available if you want to get your eyes tested. No pharmacy but there is a good range of medical items. There is a specialist food aisle which features a limited selection of goods from abroad. It also has vegan and vegetarian items too. It also has a petrol station which offers at 99.7p per litre for unleaded, and 97.7p per litre for diesel, the cheapest that I've found in Birmingham so far. The downside is that you can only pay by card only. It also has a cafe should you want lunch. There is also a good clothing section and electricals section. You can also access the "Click and Collect" facilities if you order items from the Asda website.
6. Fresh produce with long sell-by dates - Yes in general but the reliability of it is questionable. There is also a reduced items section, but normally they are in a horrible state, especially with the runner beans.
7. Opening Hours - 6am to Midnight Mon to Sat. 10am to 4pm Sun. That sounds good enough to me.
8. Speed of till-processing - Goes at a good pace, but the service is not quite so welcoming.
9. Self-service tills available - yes, loads available.
10. Parking facilities - yes, two floors of parking - one floor sheltered and one floor not sheltered. We went for the sheltered one and you can go through a travelator. No parking restrictions seems to be in place. It is also electric car friendly as you can charge it while you shop!
11. Value for money - part of the big four supermarkets, they do have quite a lot of special offers. Although quite a lot of items are cheap (especially milk), not everything is cheap. You can get a reasonable price for the majority of items. Just don't buy reduced items - it's in a horrible state. And if it is, it's mostly only 30% off - that could be better, but again it's the time of day!
12. Organic produce - available if you want them.
13. Cash machine or cash back -Yes, and cash back is offered.
14. Pedestrian access - yes and step-free.

 Apart from the service from checkout staff, Asda seems to have improved on its availability of its product, and this reflects on the business of the store.

Rating: (-1 for not getting everything I wanted, -1 for the state of reduced items, -1 for service from staff)
 

Courtesy of Anthony Harte