A team of mystery shoppers and town centre assessors has given Leominster the stamp of approval in a survey aimed at improving the town’s overall experience.
In December, a professional team carried out the ‘Location Model’ project, designed by Skillsmart Retail, to see how well Leominster performed in a number of different areas, from shop standards to town centre cleanliness.
A mystery shopping test evaluated the performance of 29 independent retailers in Leominster, producing a score of 87 per cent well above the 80 per cent benchmark. This places Leominster eighth out of almost 80 towns which have so far been assessed. Of the 29 Leominster shops, 24 recorded individual scores above 80 per cent and 18 had their customer service rated as good or very good.
This performance meant that in 97 per cent of the cases mystery shoppers would return to the shop, and 95 per cent voted to recommend it to a friend.
Best performing shop in Leominster was Gill’s Gifts, on The Buttercross, which scored an almost perfect 97.1 per cent. This was closely followed by N.E. Luck Jewellers, on High Street (94.4 per cent) and West Street Books (94.3 per cent).
The team from market research company ESA, which has over 25 years’ experience carrying out similar projects for some of the UK’s biggest retailers, also interviewed 100 shoppers in the street to ask their opinion of Leominster.
Eight out of ten (79 per cent) felt the town was clean and tidy and more than two-thirds (69 per cent) said parking was easy to find. The variety of independent shops scored highly (70 per cent) as did the general feeling of safety in the town; an impressive 90 per cent.
Almost half of those questioned said they had seen definite improvements to Leominster over the past two years. One shopper said: “Leominster is a nice, small and compact town with none of the enormous shopping malls that I hate. It is interesting and has character and atmosphere. It is a perfect market town.”
The final part of the Location Model was a town centre assessment which found that car parking was easy to find and cheap, there was good public transport provision and signage was good. The assessor said: “Leominster is a friendly town with everything available, but surprisingly it was very quiet. I saw quite a few police vehicles. The only downside was the litter.”
Leominster is the second town in Herefordshire where the survey has been carried out. In December, Ross-on-Wye scored 88.4 per cent, meaning Herefordshire now has the sixth and eighth highest scoring towns in the project, part of a wider 15-town programme funded by Advantage West Midlands taking place in Shropshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.
Nadine Kinsey, Economic Development Officer at Herefordshire County Council, was delighted that Leominster had contributed to such a great result for the county. She said: “After the successful result in Ross, it is great to see another Herefordshire town impress the professionals so much.
“While there is a lot to be proud about, this survey presents us with a great opportunity to take stock and move forward, so that everyone who comes to Leominster, whether they are from the local area or from further afield, has a positive experience.”
