Friendly Cradley Heath has lots to offer (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Friendly Cradley Heath has lots to offer

THE RESULTS of a mystery shopping exercise in Cradley Heath have put the friendly town 12th in a league of 57 towns across the UK.

Throughout April and May Cradley Heath was visited by mystery shoppers who dropped in on over 50 participating shops and market stalls to judge how well they were performing in areas such as customer service and window display.

The initiative, called Location Model, is designed by Skillsmart Retail, the Sector Skills Council for Retail and was commisioned by Sandwell Council’s Economic Regeneration and Skills Division in partnership with Sandwell Traders Association.

The study showed in store standards were very high with 98 per cent of staff acting in a polite and friendly manner.

Eighty two per cent of mystery shoppers said they would return to the town.

The results, which were unveiled at a meeting at the Salvation Army HQ in Cradley Heath on Wednesday June 24, placed the town 12th position out of 57 in the overall Mystery Shopping benchmark league table, ahead of Cheltenham, Dorchester and Mansfield.

An assessment of the town centre was also included in the study which is designed to find how easy it is for a stranger to get around.

Everything from car parking, eating out, public toilets and street signage was scrutinised.

Assessors did identify some areas for consideration, including the fact that only four people out of the 104 interviewed were visiting from more than five miles away and less than a third of people had seen improvements to the town centre in the past two years.

A prize for the highest scoring retailer was awarded by councillor Ann Shackleton.

Cllr Shackleton said: "The results of this project are really encouraging and confirm that Cradley Heath shop and store owners are very helpful and friendly to customers.

"At the same time there is an opportunity for the traders, in partnership with the council and other key agencies, to build on the positive results from this study in order to make the town centre more attractive to local customers and visitors.”

All participating retailers were given individual results for their stores and were advised by professionals, including Sandwell Traders Association, Sandwell Council, Business Link, the Learning & Skills Council and Skillsmart Retail on how their attractiveness to customers can be improved, covering everything from customer service to shop layout.