Sometimes the polls get it right. The results of a survey to find Britain’s best and worst shops by the respected consumer magazine Which? reflect this contributor’s experience of them fairly accurately.

It came as no surprise that the shop which came top in terms of customer approval was Lakeland. This eclectic household supplies chain, originally a mail order operation set up by a farmer, always seems to have the things you need around the house that you cannot find elsewhere. Then, when you go to the shop to pick them up, more often than not you see other useful products, things that you would never have thought you needed, or for which you have been looking for years, and end up buying them as well. The general quality of goods is high. The staff are courteous and well-informed: many of them seem to have used the products they are selling.

It is even less of a surprise that the electronics giants PC World and Currys are rated among the worst shops. Both have previous form in this regard. A visit to either is a case study in how having a virtual monopoly – they face little real competition on most high streets – makes a business lazy and inefficient. The range of products is surprisingly narrow. The staff, when they can be found, act as if they are doing you a favour by selling to you, and are usually ill-informed about the products.

The difference between Lakeland and the electronics giants is that Lakeland has managed to retain its family business ethos, while PC World and Currys have adopted all the trimmings of American-style corporate fashion without the redeeming feature of American-style customer service.

At the risk of cliché, it all comes down to selecting the right people. Lakeland stands out among high street retailers in that its staff tend to be older.

This defies the conventional wisdom that people are more likely to buy from the young and the attractive. That may be true in principle, but in practice what matters is the customer’s experience.

Many major chains treat staff as a commodity, looking for the cheapest supply available. As a result their shop floor assistants are working for little more than minimum wage and the retailer ends up with plenty of poor qualified, inarticulate and unmotivated workers.

But staffing your shop is not like buying a kilo of salt. Quality varies and quality is important. Lakeland has understood this and have the right formula. Currys and PC World, on the other hand, are prime examples of the thoughtless imposition of formulae that work in one part of the world but fail in others when they are not adapted appropriately for local conditions.