Off the shelf ...

A snapshot survey by the Evening Standard today revealed the extent of the problems faced by Sainsbury's in keeping its shelves filled.

In three of its stores we were unable to buy at least a quarter of the goods from a list of 20 items because they were not in stock.

In one, the branch in Liverpool Road, Islington, 40 per cent of the goods on the list were missing.

The list of goods was selected from Sainsbury's own website, and its contents would normally be expected to be found in these larger stores.

But at Tesco in Cromwell Road in west Kensington we were able to buy 15 of the items on the list, making it a better performer than any of the branches of Sainsbury's.