Smartly dressed staff, superb service and great venues – just a few of the highlights from this week’s Luton BID Mystery Shopping Awards.
At the awards ceremony, businesses were praised for their ‘outstanding customer service’ – with six businesses getting top scores and many others awarded silver and gold awards. The results for customer service in Luton town centre were ranked above the national average.
These Luton BID Mystery Shopping project were designed to identify, enhance and recognise customer service excellence, with ‘Storecheckers’ undertaking 55 mystery shopping visits to businesses during July and early August.
The six businesses to receive 100% for service excellence were:
1. AW Group, Stuart Street. “Staff listened carefully and made us feel special and were advocates for the town centre.”
2. Debenhams, The Mall. “This store was clean and tidy and staff were busy and attentive towards customers.”
3. Lenwell, a letting agent in Wellington Street. “Staff were determined to solve my query and gave good service throughout. The branch was well maintained and professional in appearance.”
4. Level Trust Uniform Exchange, a charity based in The Mall. “The sole staff member, smartly presented and was professional at all times, immediately saw an opportunity to suggest that my son might like to volunteer in the shop.”
5. Make My Vape, George Street. “The team were unfailingly polite, friendly and could not have been more helpful.”
6. Metro Bank, off Flowers Way: “Everybody was magnificently well groomed and dressed. I am not sure I have ever had better service from anyone.”
Gavin O’Brien, chair of Luton BID, said: “All retailers in the town centre who entered the Mystery Shopping awards scored a perfect 100% for ‘staff image’ – even those businesses that did not score top marks across the board.
“All these retailers also scored strongly for store layout, appearance, products and pricing – with an average of over 95%. A huge congratulations.”
Also impressive, as unveiled at the Mystery Shopping awards night on Wednesday, 26th September, was the local knowledge staff conveyed. Retailers scored an average of 94.6%, unusually and impressively high compared to the rest of the UK.
One other ‘above national’ statistic was also for pubs, restaurants and leisure venues, which scored an impressive 88.6%, with none of them scoring any lower than 75%.
More results:
Gold – Retail and Services – for scores of 90% to 99%
• Adrenaline Park Tattoos
• Argos
• Express News
• Kidd n Play
• Marks and Spencer
• Response Personnel
• The Perfume Shop
• Tronyx
Gold – Dining – for scores of 90% to 99%
• Charcoal House
• Creams Café
• Off The Wall
• Papa J’s
• Red Lion Hotel
• Steak Out
• White House
Silver – for retail and service businesses who achieved a rating of 75% – 89.9%
• Aviva Day Spa
• Cards Direct
• Central Library (Luton Culture)
• Deichman
• Don Millers Bakery
• Kiko Milano
• Mail Boxes Etc
• Mango Dry Cleaners
• Maxim Jewellers
• Post Office
• Schuh
• SmartPhone4U
• Stuart Hotel
• Thistle Hotel Luton
• Vibe Juice
Silver Certificates – for dining and late-night businesses
• Cookies and Cream
• Desert’s Rose
• Grosvenor Casino
• Stuart Hotel
• Tasty Fried Chicken
• Tasty’s Peri Peri
• The Brewery Tap
• Thistle Hotel Luton