Finally, one store gets it all right. Review on Shoprite, Mumbai

I haven't written a review in a long time, but when I saw no reviews posted on Shoprite, I couldn't resist myself. When we face poor service or come across a bad product, we feel the urge to post our rants. However, good service doesn't always give us that burning urge to go write a review.

That nobody has written a review on Shoprite probably reflects the fact that people are happy with the store.Shoprite is a South African food retailing brand. In India, they run their single hypermarket at Mulund (Mumbai) through a joint venture.

Shoprite is the best hypermarket I have ever visited. The one thing that clearly stands out is the store's respect for the customer's dignity. So the ladies are not forced to seal their wallets in an ugly bag (a la D'Mart) nor is your shopping cart subjected to scrutiny by the guards on exit. Other stores may resort to the refrain of shoplifting to justify these "processes", but if Shoprite can operate without these demeaning stunts, so can everybody. And please don't tell me that Shoprite suffers more shopping thefts than other stores.

When it really comes to helpful processes, Shoprite has it all worked out beautifully. For instance, whenever a cashier at a till faces a problem, he/she presses a buzzer and the counter light starts blinking. In a jiffy, a supervisor arrives and sorts out the problem. The Helpdesk actually works and if you face a problem, the ever-friendly staff will ensure that your problem is looked into.

I'm a regular at Shoprite and every now and then, I experience those "wow" moments. Once I had left my cart near the weighing counter and gone looking for some stuff. When I returned, to my pleasant surprise, I found all vegetable packets in my cart sealed and stickered. I looked around and the lady at the weighing counter flashed a smile, a smile that seemed to say, "Don't bother thanking me, springing pleasant surprises is part of my job." On another occasion, I saw a senior gentleman with a single item at the end of a long checkout queue being taken to a special counter for a quick checkout. That was thoughtful and touching.

As far as merchandise is concerned, you'll probably get everything you can look for in a hypermarket. The aisles are clearly marked. On the flip side, the store does seem a little understaffed at times and you may have to go looking for an attendant when you need some help with the merchandise. The only area where the staff do not seem up to their jobs, is the ready-to-eat section. Probably the heat from the ovens gets to them!

You can know a lot about an organisation just by looking at the employees. The happy look on the staff's faces always gives me a sense of reassurance. I wish we had more stores like Shoprite. If the likes of Big Bazaar take a leaf out of Shoprite, they can learn a lot, but some people just refuse to learn!

UPDATE: This review was written before the Future Group acquired Shoprite and turned it into Foodrite. Most of the things written in the review no longer apply to the store. The store staff now seem lackadaisical. There is a distinct degradation in quality as well as variety of merchandise. Items are often charged more than MRP, and when pointed out, the staff mutter some lame excuse about new stocks vs old stocks. Offer boards are put up on shelves but the billing system is not updated to reflect the offer prices. The security guards at exit now eye everybody with suspicion and insist on checking bills of most exiting customers. And no more "wow" moments. Sigh!!!