New Sainsburys

There's a new Sainsburys in Hertford and I like the way the entrance hall has made a feature of the fact that it's built on the old McMullens brewery site - don't worry that lovely building still exists, the Sainsburys was built "round the back".

But why was the shop so empty? Why was the car park so empty?

Well although there's obviously been a lot of thought gone into the decor and layout of the store, I don't think they've thought through their car parking. The Tescos in town gives you two hours free parking - very useful if you need to pop into town for something. The Asda at Stevenage charges a couple of quid, but you get that back on your shopping, assuming you spend a couple of quid. The Waitrose in Welwyn Garden, again a useful free couple of hours. All these policies with the intention of encouraging footfall into the store. Sainsburys Hertford option though is to charge a pound an hour and only give it back when you spend a tenner in store. Yeah, that's really been thought through, but at least it gives their parking wardens a job and a nice easy job too with not many cars in the car park.

Sainsburys blurb and history on their new store.