Sainsbury’s puts on a brave face for the low-lifes

Has Sainsbury’s trading manager for beauty Lisa Collins just done a Gerald Ratner? Or are most of its customers really pikeys?

The extraordinary admission came as Collins described the supermarket’s roll-out of health and beauty departments to delegates at an IGD conference last week.

Having abandoned its partnership with Boots, Sainsbury’s decided to test its own health and beauty departments in “comfortable” areas such as gin and Jag havens Solihull and Royal Leamington Spa.

The departments performed so well, explained Collins, that it was decided to let residents of towns and cities such as Hereford, Cobham and Croydon – “Or, as we call them in the office, our pikey customers” – bask in the glory of the improved health and beauty offer too. Someone needs their claws clipping.