So what’s your favourite… Independent Grocer?

watson and ainslie IGAs.
Great deli sections, great wine range and always fully stocked shelves.

kaleen supabarn.

clean, easy to find things, good service.

nice range of european delicacies.

incl ritter sport chocolate…

great parking.

Jerrabomberra Woolies.

Cook shops. Good for all sorts of stuff, always open and friendly staff.

Definitely Ainslie IGA – the wine selection is excellent, the deli has all the necessities, and the range of breads is top notch (including the to-die-for Pane Italiano). Also, the grocery manager has been really good about ordering in things they don’t normally carry – really good service!

Lyneham IGA for european groceries and Platypus Shops in Amaroo for convinience.

I just heard about this mob today. Organic Express. I haven’t tried them yet, so I can’t make any judgement.

My understanding is that they have plans to stock a wide supermarket range of products, but at the moment they mostly just do fruit & veg.

Please comment if anyone has tried them or similiar (not woolies home shop).

Wanniassa Supabarn has a great range of Seth Efrikan condiments. It’s also spotless, has wide aisles, and is one of the few supermarkets left that lets you buy loose rocket and mesclun mix by the kilo rather than payinf $4 for a small prepacked bag.

Mother Nature in Tuggers Hyperdome is fantastic for cheap fruit and veg and continental goods.

ahh the ainslie IGA.

i think SGS is boycotting that store because of the change in black and gold labelling.

he ran an expose on this some time back…

Albertsons… whoops wrong country. they have a guarantee that if there’s 2 people in the checkout line, they’ll open another checkout, and they do. I use the self-checkout anyway, and there’s never a line for that.

That said, Mother Nature’s in Qbn has almost everything you’d want (barring dunny paper etc) and it’s pretty good.

I like IGA’s, they are convenient.

Organic produce is a furphy.

Mother Natures or the Fishwyck Markets, fresh food, better quality than the crap peddalled at Coles/Woolies and normally cheaper too. Plus you can get things like rabbit, duck, durians and other sometimes hard to find delicacies.

Wanniassa IGA. Big. Lots of choice. Fair to middling staff.
I have long thought that the smaller supermarkets would do better if they held onto the bread and butter (literally) lines and did some specialising into, say Indian, East Asian, Central European, African, Middle Eastern that would make them a place to go to other than in an emergency.

Yup. It’s a Supabarn, not an IGA. Oops.

definately cook shops, i’ve been sick of how busy jamison is lately what with the aldis just opening

Yarralumla IGA – the only supermart in the suburb.

The Hub at Gungahlin is a real find – a large, well-stocked Asian supermarket with food from most countries in the region. And if they haven’t got something you want, they’ll order it for you.

Ainslie IGA has the best range of vegetarian foods that I’ve found in any supermarket in Canberra. Always well-stocked shelves. Staff who actually know where to find stuff when you need help.

Supabarn in the Canberra Centre have Clipper fair trade instant coffee – most places only stock fair trade or organic for plungers. And fair trade cocoa and hot choc mix. And good organic stuff (meats etc). And last time I needed them, they were one of the few supermarkets left that stocked paper nappy liners and snappis and PVC pilchers.

LOL at the fools who pay more for the same stuff I get at Woolies!!!!!

Big fan of the Civic IGA, largely for their large range of American chocolate. Yes, the actual chocolate is kinda shitty, but most of them have peanut butter in them. And as someone who used to balk at peanut butter as a kid, I have to say I’m getting very into it when wrapped in a chocolate shell…