29 March 2012

HOW MANY EB GAMES CAN ONE CITY SUSTAIN?

| silvernitrate
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The amount of shopping options is crazy in Canberra.

It really does cement my idea that all there is to do in Canberra is to go shopping.

But the malls are empty…

majura park

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Pffttt, shopping in Canberra is rubbish.

I much prefer to buy my clothing in Melbourne or Sydney for example.

Always been the case, and always will be.

The malls are empty? You haven’t been to Belconnen lately, that place is usually packed. My parents were visiting from interstate and couldn’t believe how many people where there on a standard day.

I imagine it being popular for the growing contingent of office workers out that way. Will be convenient to pickup something for dinner on the way home. And they can compete with Costco for the cheapest roast chickens…

abc said :

buzz819 said :

abc said :

It is the biggest Woolies in Australia. But it has no Macs liquor as Jim Murphy’s ( who is opening a smaller Express store in the centre) and Costco have the two licences for the area. The Big W doesn’t have much hardware stuff due to the Woolies owned Masters opening on July 31st just up the road.

It’s not Australia’s biggest Woolworths, the ad clearly states “Canberra’s largest Woolworths”

City Hall Woolworths in Sydney is 4 levels of supermarket goodness, it wont beat that.

Yes it is Canberra’s largest Woolies, but at 4000sqm, it’s also Australia’s largest Woolies. Yes 4 levels in Sydney the size of a postage stamp for each. The largest Woolies, and the busiest Woolies (Dickson) both in Canberra. I look forward to my dividend next month.

So what do they stock in Australia’s largest Woolies, that isn’t stocked in other Woolies, to take up all the extra space? Or are the aisles just really, really wide?

I strongly agree Op, Canberra has far too much retail for its size & population.

While I understand the need & location for the Majura Park shopping centre, I question Canberra’s ability to support such an influx of retail.

NoAddedMSG said :

Well I for one plan on eschewing the endless queues at Dickson Wollies and doing my shopping at Majura Park wollies. It’s about the same distance from where I live anyway.

I was surprised at the lack of checkout queues, I thought that was woolies policy. It certainly is at the Qbn Woolworths (which is why I don’t shop there).

buzz819 said :

abc said :

It is the biggest Woolies in Australia. But it has no Macs liquor as Jim Murphy’s ( who is opening a smaller Express store in the centre) and Costco have the two licences for the area. The Big W doesn’t have much hardware stuff due to the Woolies owned Masters opening on July 31st just up the road.

It’s not Australia’s biggest Woolworths, the ad clearly states “Canberra’s largest Woolworths”

City Hall Woolworths in Sydney is 4 levels of supermarket goodness, it wont beat that.

Yes it is Canberra’s largest Woolies, but at 4000sqm, it’s also Australia’s largest Woolies. Yes 4 levels in Sydney the size of a postage stamp for each. The largest Woolies, and the busiest Woolies (Dickson) both in Canberra. I look forward to my dividend next month.

Well I for one plan on eschewing the endless queues at Dickson Wollies and doing my shopping at Majura Park wollies. It’s about the same distance from where I live anyway.

abc said :

It is the biggest Woolies in Australia. But it has no Macs liquor as Jim Murphy’s ( who is opening a smaller Express store in the centre) and Costco have the two licences for the area. The Big W doesn’t have much hardware stuff due to the Woolies owned Masters opening on July 31st just up the road.

It’s not Australia’s biggest Woolworths, the ad clearly states “Canberra’s largest Woolworths”

City Hall Woolworths in Sydney is 4 levels of supermarket goodness, it wont beat that.

It is the biggest Woolies in Australia. But it has no Macs liquor as Jim Murphy’s ( who is opening a smaller Express store in the centre) and Costco have the two licences for the area. The Big W doesn’t have much hardware stuff due to the Woolies owned Masters opening on July 31st just up the road.

The reason they are opening more BigW or EB is so people don’t have to travel as far if they don’t live close to a BigW or whatever. I would prefer to travel out there to Majura than deal with parking in the city. I am lucky though that I live in the city and on a regular basis walk past EB and Woolworths.

As for Downloading full electronic copies of games, I don’t really want to waste 10 – 20 gig of my data limit and spend more than a few hours downloading a game, when I can go and buy a hard copy and install in 30 mins, until of course I have to install the first patch….

The joint’s certainly jumping. I have never heard so many screaming babies and children in all my life. They are handing out pamphlets about specials, and even FREE black woolies bags out the front of Woolies. It’s busy, but strangely for Woolworths, they didn’t have lines at the checkouts (yes I bought something). And they have a self-serve checkout.

It’s a very pretty supermarket, it’s huge, and the displays are rather arty and pretty. Good range of fresh stuff and flowers, if the prices stay like they are, I will most likely buy something again. The $6.99/kg chicken breasts from the deli is a good special. $7.99 rump steak (whole rumps or sliced).

I inadvertently eavesdropped on the manager on his mobile to someone, he seemed pretty happy with how it was all going. (well if he will hang around near the potting mix, people will hear him).

Not all the food court shops are open yet (no subway) but those that were open were doing good business. Some cheap-looking ladies’ clothes shops. A small and non-descript Dick Smiths, I saw no point in going in.

And a muscle shop called Oxygen, with some fascinating toe-shoes, none of which had prices on them. Broke a rule and asked the price, which starts at $100 and can go up past $200! Horrors.
I retired to Costco and got some more of those excellent washable slippers, $12 is more my price.

As for EB, I can’t believe they’d be opening more. The days of buying digital products from bricks and mortar stores is coming closer to being a thing of the past. Consoles aren’t as far down that path as PC games are, but I can’t believe that any future consoles won’t have access to online distribution of games.

I walk past the EB Games in the Canberra centre quite often during lunch, and these days it’s rarely got more than one or two people in it, if that. Meanwhile, in the UK Game is in administration (not sure if that will extend to the Australian Game stores too) – opening more EB stores would have to be as crazy as opening a new book store these days.

Erg0 said :

My mind is slightly boggled by people getting excited about going to the opening of a store which already has several other locations in the same city. Bragging rights at school pick-ups this afternoon, I guess.

Admittedly a lot of the stores seemed to have opening specials going on, which act as a bit of an incentive. A lot of people would also be curious to see just what is there, one thing that surprised me was that the BigW there has an optical department out the front (I didn’t know BigW did glasses). IIRC, 2 pairs of glasses for as little as $60, and half price on some of the name brand frames, which is worth knowing.

silvernitrate1:59 pm 29 Mar 12

Did DSE have any opening specials?

arescarti42 said :

I went and had a look this morning, it was pretty busy inside and the car park out the front was close to full, to be expected of opening day I guess.

You really do have to wonder how many DSE/Woolworths/EBgames/BigWs we need in this city though.

My mind is slightly boggled by people getting excited about going to the opening of a store which already has several other locations in the same city. Bragging rights at school pick-ups this afternoon, I guess.

I went and had a look this morning, it was pretty busy inside and the car park out the front was close to full, to be expected of opening day I guess.

You really do have to wonder how many DSE/Woolworths/EBgames/BigWs we need in this city though.

at least they have some useful stores that sell a wide range of items all in the one place rather the 500 smaller less useful store selling all the same stuff

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