In search of advice on Supermarkets

will have to test out this spurious ‘rum ball theory’ tomorrow… ; )

I’m still drooling over the Twisties!

I’ve been meaning to try out the Aldi bottled Glüwein that’s about $7 for a while now.

astrojax said :

agree with you ant on iga’s… prefer ainslie to dickson because of that (though the dickson cake shop pies are an attraction – as is the walkability for me at the moment until i can drive again!). having said that, there is a marked difference inter-iga, qua lyneham is nowhere near as good as ainslie; neither for that matter is o’connor, though it used to be. much better meat selection at ainslie, for instance…

aldi rocks, but.

I really like the IGA at Kingston, they have all kinds of fascinating things. You duck in to grab the essential Twisties, and end up with an armful of things. Their bags of spices seem cheaper than the same product elsewhere, and they have SO many things you just don’t see in Cwoolies. Lots more “continental” things… Cwoolies seem to have almst got out of the jars of pickled chillies market, for instance.

The IGA at Ainslie always impresses, too. We often order chips at the Theo’s, and then wander up to the IGA for our BBQ chooks, they have free range ones! Again, you get sidetracked by the amazing things they have. There’s a good one at Griffith, too. I was struck by how The Essential Ingredient keeps its truffle oil in a locked cabinet, but Griffith IGA has it all out on the shelves.

Aldi have some products that have me going in there specially to get it. Their plain tomato passata is gold, delicous and cheap. And their low-fat milk is so, so much better than the Cwoolies versions. their washing powder is excellent too, and they have a picture of a baby on it with “hazmat” to warn you about babies. And Aldi beer is just a no-brainer, it’s German, and cheap. Have to go to the ACT Aldis to get it though.

Oh, and regarding Dickson pies, if you’re in the Vietnamese bakery there, the giant rum balls are to die for. (wanders off drooling).

Hackett IGA is good too, although small – no deli. They used to sell heaps of organic stuff and sacks of bread flour etc, but they seem to be going back to just normal groceries now.

Watson IGA is ok – it has a deli, but is a bit overcrowded for easy shopping.

Lyneham is really expensive, and O’Connor is even more expensive, and isn’t an IGA anymore I think.

And Gungahlin woolies and Coles are both much more pleasant than Dickson woolies. Free parking, plenty of spots, and nice wide aisle in the shops, without too many people.

2604 said :

imarty said :

deezagood, you’re right about many well known companies manufacturing for Aldi, as they do for other retailer’s homebrand products but the “recipe” is often different so in many cases it is not the exact same product.
I know this to be true at least in bread and smallgoods.

The taste of the Aldi brand is superior in at least two products that I can think of: Aldi’s Corvaloni dry spaghetti tastes better than any other brand on the market (including San Remo, Vetta, etc) and costs only 59 cents per 500 gram packet.

This is an interesting observation, because I know for a fact that San Remo actually produces all Aldi pasta and sauces, to the exact same recipe as their own goods!

You’d be really surprised at who actually does produce Aldi stuff (I had a friend who worked in Aldi HQ and so got all of the good goss); usually the top brand manufacturers of whatever you are buying at Coles! The way is works (apparently) is that the Aldi folks approach the leading manufacturer of whatever product – say Wheetbix for example. And they say ‘okay, if people are shopping at Aldi, they are probably going to buy our wheetbix, and not your wheetbix. So – either you can produce our Aldi Wheetbix under a made-up Aldi name (and still make money) OR we will go to your competitors and they can produce our Aldi Wheetbix instead’. That is why so many of the top brands produce their goods for Aldi – at least this way, they still make money. People think that Aldi stuff is inferior quality (perhaps like ‘black and gold brand’), but actually it really is the exact same top stuff, but cheaper. I heart Aldi.

agree with you ant on iga’s… prefer ainslie to dickson because of that (though the dickson cake shop pies are an attraction – as is the walkability for me at the moment until i can drive again!). having said that, there is a marked difference inter-iga, qua lyneham is nowhere near as good as ainslie; neither for that matter is o’connor, though it used to be. much better meat selection at ainslie, for instance…

aldi rocks, but.

imarty said :

deezagood, you’re right about many well known companies manufacturing for Aldi, as they do for other retailer’s homebrand products but the “recipe” is often different so in many cases it is not the exact same product.
I know this to be true at least in bread and smallgoods.

The taste of the Aldi brand is superior in at least two products that I can think of: Aldi’s Corvaloni dry spaghetti tastes better than any other brand on the market (including San Remo, Vetta, etc) and costs only 59 cents per 500 gram packet. And, their 75 cent packet cake mixes are sensational, as well – moister and better than Cadbury’s, Green’s, etc.

I used to be a real skeptic but am a total Aldi convert nowadays. Like Deezagood I also save a fortune, around $30-40 per week less than I used to spend when I shopped exclusively at Coles.

Aldi is great, and in the ACT you even get Aldi Grog! I keep being impressed by IGAs too, when you go in the different products they have is a real eye-opener when you’re used to teh same old stuff at woolies and coles. They do the gourmet and local specialties thing so much better at IGAs.

Mother Natures is another that I hope survives whatever is happening to it at the moment. There’s clearly something wrong. the Qbn shop has shut its deli, the fridge is empty, the cold shelves just have staples. teh F and V are still good and mostly cheaper than what I observed at the Fyshwick “markets”. Mother Natures is more than F and V, in fact before it went down, you could pretty-well do your whole shop there. They even had cleaning products and toiletries tucked behind a shelf. A few fully-stocked Mother Natures go a long way towards plugging the gaps, I was always very happy to do the bulk of my shop there and eschew Cwoolies.

Jivrashia said :

Dickson Woolies… never fails to disappoint.
The range of brand appears to be decreasing.

I say raze the site and start all over again (or, on failing that, head to Kaleen Supabarn).

Well it will go close, they’re planning on doing a full refurbishment of Dickson Woolies, you will be able to do your banking and liquor shopping in the one stop when the liquor store is moved from the supermarket and will absorb some of the space of the Commonwealth Bank. The self serve checkouts will help the plebs lining up for express service too.

http://apps.actpla.act.gov.au/pubnote/pubnoteDetail_new.asp?DA_no=200914094

miz said :

Chisholm is an interesting example – it’s a really vibrant, bustling local shops, yet there are still empty shops. (I notice, for example, that the toyshop which relocated there from Lanyon has closed. What a shame, it was a top shop.)

I suspect the cost of retail space in local shopping precincts is prohibitive and this should be looked at. Is it any wonder we are now getting the big corporations like Coles/Woolies and their associated brands dominating the small centres and crowding out the more interesting ones? Seems that only the biggies can actually afford to move in.

Funny, it’s actually the opposite. The supermarkets actually draw customers to the surrounding businesses as people will normally pop in before/after doing shopping. Hence why small suburban centres have died as people flock to large shopping centres so they can do grocery shopping and visit all the other shops at the same time. Small group centres work well for people on the way home from work who don’t wan’t to bother with parking hassles and hinderences of shopping centres. Hence why you will find the supermarkets in places like woden/tuggeranong to be dead after about 6pm and group centres chisholm/erindale/kaleen to busy.

deezagood, you’re right about many well known companies manufacturing for Aldi, as they do for other retailer’s homebrand products but the “recipe” is often different so in many cases it is not the exact same product.
I know this to be true at least in bread and smallgoods.

deezagood said :

In terms of generic supermarkets, Aldi has rocked my world, especially for non-perishable/frozen/pre-packaged stuff and basics such as milk, yoghurt, cheese etc.. We have saved a fortune by shopping at Aldi, and I honestly can’t understand why people wouldn’t shop for their basics there over Coles and Woolies. I wonder if people realise that Aldi often sells the exact same product from the exact same producers, but packaged under a different lable at 60% of the cost?

Hell yeah. I even think that their fresh fruit, vegetables and meat are better than Coles most of the time…and about half the cost.

There sure are some great shops at Chisholm; the Florist is divine (I source all of my flowers from there, as well as teacher-presents etc…), the butcher is fantastic (slightly pricey, but you get what you pay for), the take away is apparently great, newsagency is friendly, bakery makes great coffee etc… I try my hardest to support the local businesses by shopping locally, and I’m sure many locals do the same. I think the problem Miz, is that Chisholm currently has just what it needs in terms of essential local shops (hair-dresser-check, beauty place-check, fruit/veg-check, bottle shop-check, chemist-check), so I just don’t think there is room for any more new businesses. I know the new little gift shop is really struggling and as you noted, the toy shop has sadly closed. I think the only extra businesses that might thrive in Chisholm are really good take-away/dine in alternatives, such as an Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Noodle house or Turkish place – I hate competing with the crowds at Erindale on a Friday night and I’m sure others feel the same way!

Chisholm is an interesting example – it’s a really vibrant, bustling local shops, yet there are still empty shops. (I notice, for example, that the toyshop which relocated there from Lanyon has closed. What a shame, it was a top shop.)

I suspect the cost of retail space in local shopping precincts is prohibitive and this should be looked at. Is it any wonder we are now getting the big corporations like Coles/Woolies and their associated brands dominating the small centres and crowding out the more interesting ones? Seems that only the biggies can actually afford to move in.

It’s the ‘Bunnings factor’ – undercut everyone (eg poach all the bread and butter business from the small paint shops, lighting shops, garden nurseries, bathroom/kitchen suppliers etc) and soon there is no competition. which rather defeats the purpose.

We asked at Mother Nature Tuggeranong what was happening there a couple weeks ago.
The checkout girl said that the store was closing in the next week for refurbishment.
Explained the empty counters and what stock they had was not of great quality.
We haven’t bothered going round there to check since.
I assume that there will some fanfare when it reopens.

Leaves the Hyperdome without a greengrocer at present as well.

According to ACTPLA’s website Jim Murphy’s carpark in Fyshwick is requesting a change of use variation. Included in the new uses would be Home Produce. Could turn into a new fruit & veg market!

In terms of generic supermarkets, Aldi has rocked my world, especially for non-perishable/frozen/pre-packaged stuff and basics such as milk, yoghurt, cheese etc.. We have saved a fortune by shopping at Aldi, and I honestly can’t understand why people wouldn’t shop for their basics there over Coles and Woolies. I wonder if people realise that Aldi often sells the exact same product from the exact same producers, but packaged under a different lable at 60% of the cost?

In terms of supermarkets in the woolies/coles sense of the word, I’ve always found Supabarn’s fresh food sections to be far superior to the other two.

Fyshwick markets fruit and vegie prices have been through the roof for the last few years

To be honest I hven’t noticed too much of a hike in prices. We buy pretty much the same stuff from week to week with some seasonal diferences obviously but it always costs around $40-50 for our fruit and vegies. I quite prefer Wiffens for the quality of the goods but they are a little dearer than some of the other vendors at Fyshwick.

deezagood said :

FC said :

My advice – more fresh fruit and veg stores. Especially in Tuggeranong! I’m don’t like having only the choice of ‘crappy woolworths fruit and veg’ or, ‘crappy woolthworths fruit and veg’.
Put a green grocer at Lanyon! (a bid to any potential store owners!!!)

FC – you must try the fruit and veg shop at Chisholm; they are really terrific (nice people, good quality produce, lots of local stuff etc…). only 10 minutes from you at Lanyon too.

+1
we get all our F&V there. worth the trip from kambah…

Fyshwick markets fruit and vegie prices have been through the roof for the last few years

true but mother natures were always a cheaper option in belco, and i think go tropo always had a few really good specials each week at fyswick

jjoking said :

on the smaller side of things, it seems one family is buying up all the medium sized green grocers, one family now own wiffins, ziggies, they bought go tropo fyswick and turned it into a ziggies and have just bought mother nature belco and are tuning it into another wiffins, soon they will own all both “markets” and what will happen to prices then?

Fyshwick markets fruit and vegie prices have been through the roof for the last few years

cranky said :

Rumour has it that the ex garden nursery at Southlands, Mawson, may become an Aldi.

Looks like the garden centre building is under demolition as we speak

on the smaller side of things, it seems one family is buying up all the medium sized green grocers, one family now own wiffins, ziggies, they bought go tropo fyswick and turned it into a ziggies and have just bought mother nature belco and are tuning it into another wiffins, soon they will own all both “markets” and what will happen to prices then?

Dicko woolies is still better stocked than a lot of suburban ones – and dickson itself is a good complex, lots of little stores where you can find stuff you need.

Dickson Woolies… never fails to disappoint.
The range of brand appears to be decreasing.

I say raze the site and start all over again (or, on failing that, head to Kaleen Supabarn).

I second the trip to Chisholm from Lanyon- much better quality than Woolies, better prices and fresh food. And you can duck into Coles while you are there for non-perishables (on that front, they’re all the same)

Rumour has it that the ex garden nursery at Southlands, Mawson, may become an Aldi.

FC – Mother Nature’s at the Tuggers mall is also pretty good.

Thanks deezagood. I shall definitly go there next time I do a shop! I wasn’t even aware that they had one there.
cheers 🙂

FC said :

My advice – more fresh fruit and veg stores. Especially in Tuggeranong! I’m don’t like having only the choice of ‘crappy woolworths fruit and veg’ or, ‘crappy woolthworths fruit and veg’.
Put a green grocer at Lanyon! (a bid to any potential store owners!!!)

FC – you must try the fruit and veg shop at Chisholm; they are really terrific (nice people, good quality produce, lots of local stuff etc…). only 10 minutes from you at Lanyon too.

My advice – more fresh fruit and veg stores. Especially in Tuggeranong! I’m don’t like having only the choice of ‘crappy woolworths fruit and veg’ or, ‘crappy woolthworths fruit and veg’.
Put a green grocer at Lanyon! (a bid to any potential store owners!!!)