Ask RiotACT: Does anyone know what happened to the Kingston IGA?

According to signage on the former IGA Kingston site, Supabarn Express will be opening on Wednesday 11 October.

The whole sorry saga of efforts to improve food retailing in Kingston goes back a decade or more. In 2010 the ACT government granted the right to operate a supermarket on the Eyre Street car park site to Supabarn, as part of its supermarket competition policy. Seven years later, with thousands more residents in Kingston, this looks like a failure, with the only party to benefit being Coles (with its Manuka store still retaining a monopoly in the inner south). The same policy sees Woolworths still retaining a monopoly in Dickson.

The sale of the car park followed years of ‘masterplanning’ the Kingston site. Rarely can a planning process have taken so long to achieve so little. Two years ago CIC Australia and the Koundouris Group lodged a DA for the site. There is still no sign of the development going ahead, although a sales office for the residential component shows a flicker of life from time to time.

Via social media, I’ve asked Elizabeth Lee, Liberal MLA for Kurrajong, to find out if the sale of the car park required the buyer to complete the development by a set date.

With the experience of having Supabarn as my local supermarket in both Canberra and Sydney, I would love it if they pulled out and sold their interest to the Sydney operator Harris Farm markets, who would be a great fit for the inner south. I have no interest in or connection with any food retailers.

Graham Cooke said :

I don’t know, but the McKellar supermarket closed six years ago. A year later the whole shopping complex was demolished and that’s what it is now – an ugly overgrown space. So don’t hold your breath for local supermarkets that are not Coles or Woollies.

Kingston already has a development approved being built by the Supabarn owners which includes a Supabarn. When Supabarn sold out to Coles Kingston was one of the sites (and if I recall the only site) they wanted to retain as a Supabarn.

McKellar (and the infamous Giralang) are totally different issues.

Graham Cooke said :

I don’t know, but the McKellar supermarket closed six years ago. A year later the whole shopping complex was demolished and that’s what it is now – an ugly overgrown space. So don’t hold your breath for local supermarkets that are not Coles or Woollies.

We know a Supabarn is going to go into the Atria development on what is currently the open air car park Eyre Street, opposite Green Square. That’s mainly because the Kondouris family, owners of Supabarn, are the developers of Atria.

http://atriagreensquare.com.au/about/

madelini said :

I don’t think that the supermarket was ever as far down as Winnings – there were some quirky homewares stores in that part of the building, but the supermarket was always tiny.

Yes it was.

You’re right that old mall/arcade did used to have a few homewares/gift stores, a hairdresser and even a bank on the main corner.

But the IGA was bigger. For a start, access to the supermarket used to be by entering the mall through double doors (roughly where the entry to WInnings is now) and turning right, just before the old escalator that formerly led up to Home Yardage way back in the day.

After Winnings claimed half of the IGA the cash registers were moved, the aisles became about half of their former width and new glass entry doors opening direct on the footpath were installed. That was only a couple of years ago.

I don’t know, but the McKellar supermarket closed six years ago. A year later the whole shopping complex was demolished and that’s what it is now – an ugly overgrown space. So don’t hold your breath for local supermarkets that are not Coles or Woollies.

Holden Caulfield said :

It started going downhill after Winnings took half of their store. When the IGA logos went I figured they might have had a contract issue with IGA and were sorting out new suppliers.

The shelves have been bare for weeks, but the fruit and veg was generally still okay. I was surprised on Tuesday night when I went to call in for supplies and noticed they were clearing out the shop.

If it does close down permanently I suspect Kingston will be without a supermarket until the Supabarn is built as part of the Aria development.

Bit of a bummer.

I don’t think that the supermarket was ever as far down as Winnings – there were some quirky homewares stores in that part of the building, but the supermarket was always tiny.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it was another rental dispute; there have been many of those in the Kingston complex over the years. The spaces where the video store and Filthy McFadden’s were in Green Square have been empty for ages.

I remember reading that Supabarn were doing something in Kingston, but I think it was something to do with a car park site they have bought and were developing?

There is no longer an IGA store at Kingston according to the IGA store locator.

http://www.iga.com.au/stores/#view=storelocator

All IGA branding appears to have been removed so I’m assuming the shop has been sold.