Saje Natural Wellness and boutique wine and beer retailer Tite Frette are top of the class in Leger’s annual report on the best retail experiences.

The annual WOW survey polls 12,000 respondents on 26 variables related to the in-store experience, coupled with data from 148 retailers in Ontario and 203 in Quebec. For the first time, Leger’s annual report also looked at Western Canada, through a separate poll of 5,000 consumers.

Christian Bourque, EVP at Leger, says that 61 retailers have improved their scores this year, with 32 going south, an indication things are returning to pre-crisis normalcy. Nationally, Bourque noted that big box, hardware and grocery stores led gains, while the apparel sector was a laggard.

Saje took the top spot among respondents in Ontario, which Bourque said was because of quality of service, product availability and competence of staff. Last year’s number one, Lush, slipped to second, but remains “exceptional” with a “gamified in-store that’s one of the best out there,” Bourque notes.

Lee Valley Tools came in third, and Bourque says the retailer always excelled in terms of competency of staff and variety of products. Lindt, meanwhile, came in fourth, retaining its public perception of being both welcoming and premium at the same time.

Prior to 2019, M&M Food Market didn’t even crack the top 30, but is now in fifth thanks to “great promotions and signage.”

The Wine Rack came in ninth, delivering one of the highest year-over-year score increases. Bourque notes the Arterra-owned retailer provides a very welcoming environment.

Looking at specific categories, Fortino’s was the top grocer in Ontario, followed by Longo’s. Pharmasave topped the pharmacy category, while Simons was the top department store.

Liquor retailer Tite Frette topped Quebec retailers with a near-perfect score of 97. The retailer’s founder, Karl Magnone, has said it’s made a concerted effort to be best in customer service. Province-owned liquor retailer SAQ was in seventh.

According to Bourque, second place Yves Rocher has been in the best-in-class “forever” and has solid loyalty initiatives and attentiveness to customers (the retailer was ranked sixth overall in Ontario).

Supplement stores also performed well in Quebec, with Shop Santé in third and Popeye’s in eleventh. Nespresso’s retail locations were ranked in fourth, followed by clothing retailer Claire France.

Overall, 14 retailers in Quebec had scores above 90, compared to nine that achieved the same in Ontario.

In Western Canada, Everything Wine was first in the liquor category, followed by Liquor Mart. Costco was number one for food retailers, beating out Co-op Foods. Guardian was number one in pharmacy. In specialty, Saje was number one, just like in Ontario.

Respondents in Leger’s survey were also asked about their feelings about labour shortages. But rising prices were the most-cited retail grievance among customers, ahead of things like long wait times and no employees being available for service.

Luc Dumont, VP of insights for Leger, notes that 82% of Ontarians have heard of the labour shortage, but only 12% felt the impact in their shopping experience, with 5% reporting feeling negative about that impact.

Adding self-checkout and providing more training to staff were the top recommendations to how to address labour issues (each cited by 13% of respondents), while 9% wanted better delivery service. But more than half said “there doesn’t need to be a solution.”

However, some retailers are bearing more of a negative impact from staffing shortages than others, namely apparel stores like Zara and H&M. Culture, hobby, sports, outdoor and convenience stores were also categories where staffing issues were seen as an irritant. Men and people between the ages of 15 and 34 are more sensitive to the shortage of workers, according to Leger.