Fyshwick to host city's first Lindt outlet

Canberra’s first Lindt shop will open later this month, not in New Acton, Braddon, Manuka or Kingston, but in the Canberra Outlet Centre in Fyshwick.

The store is reportedly due to open at 10am on August 26, with the first few 100 customers who spend $10 or more in-store on August 26, 27 and 28 to receive 1kg worth of Lindor balls. In the first fortnight of operation, customers will receive 50 percent off items in the Pick and Mix gift box range.

We’ve contacted Lindt to find out why they’ve chosen the Canberra Outlet Centre, given it is better known for its Homemaker stores such as Pottery Barn, Howards Storage World and Freedom Furniture, and discount clothing outlets like Cotton On, Bendon and Bonds than for its fine foods.

Lindt stores in other cities tend to be in tourist hotspots and upmarket CBD locations, though there is a factory outlet in Marsden Park in Sydney. We’ll report back.

The Marsden Park factory is a new addition, having opened only last month in Sydney’s west.

RiotACT is a little jealous of NSW Premier Mike Baird who was channelling Charlie Bucket to Lindt & Sprungli CEO Ernst Tanner’s Willy Wonka at the official opening of the $60 million purpose-built facility in Sydney’s west on July 4 (see main image above).

The facility is testament to Lindt’s Australian expansion, its size an indicator of the chocolate maker’s strong growth here. It will employ up to 350 mostly local staff working on a 66,000 square metre site, with over 25,000 square metres of factory and warehouse space.

Mr Tanner said at the time that the company’s decision to enter the Australian market nearly twenty years ago had proven to be one of the most successful ventures in the company’s history.

“Never did we anticipate the reception that Lindt chocolates would receive in Australia when we first entered the market here,” he said.

Last month the Lindt factory began spinning a new range of Lindt Easter eggs which will be available to the public in Easter 2017 using chocolate imported from Switzerland.

“The fact that we are spinning a new product specifically for the Australian public is a reflection on the many successes we have had here,” Mr Tanner said.