Shoppers unhappy at empty supermarket shelves 6/8/14
A large number of customers are hotly complaining about bare shelves and the lack of groceries in Tesco’s store in Stornoway.
The supermarket giant has been accused of favouring people who shop via the internet with the problem becoming acute over the past six weeks.
Disgruntled shoppers are angry the Stornoway store was apparently ignoring grumbles posted on their social media pages.
Tesco has now abandoned its local facebook page with the last posting made some four weeks ago.
Unhappy customer Hunter Hope wrote: “This not a problem that has just sprung up. It has been on the go a long time and Tesco seem to have been sweeping it under the carpet.
She pointed out: “It is not just empty shelves, there is a safety issue in here as well. The aisles are littered with discarded empty boxes and staff walking passed them and doing nothing.
“It is not just employees at fault here but the management for not implementing the rules governing safety in this shop.
“Things are so bad that customers are now going to the opposition, the Coop, and the result there is that there is shortness of the goods that Tesco cannot supply but I am sure they have cottoned on to this and will order more to supply the demand.
“A good thing will be that there will more room in the Tesco store for customers to move around as their customer base dwindles.
Frances Robertson said her mother overheard staff saying doughnuts -
She said: “Is it coincidence that the first time in weeks I was able to get everything I need last Monday morning and the shelves were full that dot com staff don't work on a Monday?
“Tesco, I hope you are not putting your dot com customers ahead of those who attend the store as quite frankly your store has been a disgrace for the last few weeks, nothing on the shelves no matter what time of day or day of the week.”
Another islander has suggested the store has axed the nightshift rota where staff stocked up the shelves before it opened in the morning.
Kevin Poke, Tesco Stornoway store manager said: “I’m sorry to hear some customers have found certain products sold out in recent weeks.
“My team and I are working as hard as we can to keep the shelves fully stocked and in the past month we have recruited 20 new colleagues to help us provide the very best service to the local community.”