According to a recent decision by Woolworths head office, no one in Australia eats Kanga Bangas.. so there is no longer any point putting them on the shelves.
Because of this decision, I have had a whinge at the Woolworths butcher, posted a rant on the Woolworths complaints page.. and even considered calling the Today Tonight [...]

Andrew Barr has announced there will be two new supermarkets going into Dickson and one will be an Aldi:
I am pleased to announce today that the Government will be seeking expressions of interest for the construction of two new supermarkets at Dickson. One of these supermarkets will be Aldi. The other will be a [...]

Now that summer is upon us I was wondering if someone out there could answer a question for me – what is it about grapes that makes (almost) everyone feel entitled to sample grapes in Canberra supermarkets?  
I’ve never seen someone take a bite out of an apple or any other fruit/product but for some [...]

The Economic Development Directorate is written to Red Hill residents asking for their thoughts on plans for a much needed reworking of the IGA.
It all comes down to the future of “Block 5″.
They’d like your thoughts on their feedback page.

Yesterday we noted that the Economic Development Directorate had taken the unusual step of asking Canberrans to vote on how they’d like new supermarkets in Dickson to be developed.
But it did not take long for numerous readers to report problems with the poll.
#6 poetix
3:59 pm, 22 Nov 11
I just voted at the site and the [...]

The Economic Development Directorate is setting a potentially dangerous precedent by asking the public for their votes on a development issue.
The Dickson Centre Master Plan was released in May 2011 following extensive consultation with the community. It included a number of sites for future supermarket and retail development in the Dickson Group Centre.
The Master Plan [...]

With little fanfare the Chief Minister’s website has pushed out the first tranche of Cabinet Outcomes, this one for June.
The ones that appear to be actual decisions rather than studies and consultations which we did not previously know about are:
– Direct Sale of Land to ALDI Foods Pty Ltd – Cabinet agreed to the direct [...]

Liberal Leader Zed Seselja is, with some glee, announcing the thoughts of Lindsay Tanner and Craig Emerson, the two leading Labor economic thinkers of their generation, on Jon Stanhope’s weird supermarket site selection policy:
The letter was obtained by the Canberra Liberals through a Freedom of Information request on Jon Stanhope’s much criticised supermarket policy.
The Federal [...]

New Woolworths going up in Dunlop

Good news for the bargain hunters with His Chiefliness (and lord high commander of retail), Jon Stanhope, decreeing three new ALDI stores for the Canberra periphery:
Supermarket retailer ALDI is set to increase its presence in Canberra after the ACT Government gave in-principle support to the direct sale of three sites to the discount chain.
Chief Minister [...]

Mr Stanhope has announced that he’s having a look at introducing a “floor space test” in his government’s quest to crush the Liberal supporting IGA owners bring more competition to Canberra’s supermarkets.
Mr Stanhope said the floor space test is based on a scheme in operation in NSW where any applications for development by a single [...]

Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur is celebrating the passage of her bill (so it’s a law now) to tackle the urban scourge (or resource depending on how you swing) of shopping trolleys.
“The final legislation gives the Government the power to notify retailers that it will undertake a ‘trolley collection day’ in a particular area; if [...]

Free market think tank, The Institute of Public Affairs, has looked into the ACT’s brave new statist experiment into supermarket competition which seems to have pleased no one except Supabarn.
The key consequences of the government’s implementation of its supermarkets policy at Kingston, Dickson, Casey and Amaroo will be to:
• Require the price of groceries [...]

Interestingly the IGA’s are running a public campaign against the ACT Government’s supermarket policies intended to increase competition.
Corner shop owners are traditionally a core Liberal constituency. (Think Manuel Xyrakis popping up with Tony Abbot at Ainslie shops whenever a loaf of bread needs tutting over).
On the other hand they’ve got more community presence than [...]

Our Chiefly Leader (wearing his “Minister for Business and Economic Development” hat) has put out a press release announcing the release of the outcomes of the Governments review into supermarket competition policy – A review prompted by the desire to achieve greater competition and diversity in Canberra’s retail grocery sector.
Those with memories longer than a [...]

The Chief Minister’s Department has announced the brave entry of the Supermarket Review Policy into social media.
In particular this means that John Martin’s thoughts on the supermarket review have a rather spiffy YouTube channel (sadly with embedding disabled). And a foray onto facebook.
Video snobs are even accommodated with the material duplicated on Vimeo.
Perhaps more pressingly [...]

The Chiefly Jon Stanhope has announced a program of public meetings to have your say on the ACT Government’s review of the supermarket sector.
If you want to be effective you need to send in a submission before 5pm, 24 July to supermarketreview@act.gov.au.
But if you like a good chin-wag and a low chance of getting on [...]

Chief Minister Stanhope has announced that he’s dragging a former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Deputy Commissioner, Mr John Martin, in to figure out what’s needed in the ACT’s supermarket sector.
Mr Martin will advise the ACT Government on a range of issues that surround the review, in particular the local implications of the ACCC’s [...]

Inspired by a conversation I vaguely remember from last night, and in an effort to give the long suffering women of RiotACT a chance to be just like the men, I now ask the question…
Which supermarket in Canberra has the cutest checkout boys?
I’ve been told that Dickson Woolies rates pretty well.