30 October 2013

Still no Giralang shops

| Rollersk8r
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The Canberra Times brings the most news I’ve heard on the Giralang shops in a while http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/war-returns-to-woolies-site-20131028-2wccn.html. Doesn’t seem like much of a scoop, other than highlighting that one determined party can seemingly delay development forever and ever.

I’ve lived in Giralang around 8 years and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. Quite clearly, the developer will hold out forever to get some return on investment – and those who oppose it will hold out forever to protect their investments. Meanwhile, the residents have been the only losers in this battle for 9 years. Nine years! One would have to assume even if it was all resolved tomorrow it would be another 2 years before the existing buildings are demolished and rebuilt, which takes us up to 11 years. It’s unbelievable that anything can take so long…

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YouGoonie said :

Anyone else seen the “McDonalds Opening Soon” sign at Giralang Shops? Girlfriend said she saw it the other day. Find it bizarre that we cant have another Woolworths but we can have another Mcdonalds!!!

It’s not a real sign.
http://i.imgur.com/41FT8wf.jpg
It’s just a protest sign. It is actually down at the moment though.
Supabarn protesting is a bit rich – as they put the giralang shoprite/ IGA and middle kaleen shops out of business in the 90s

MelonHead said :

Also noticed IGA Hawker has gone!

Yup it’s turned in to another bloody Woolworth’s

Also noticed IGA Hawker has gone!

How many Dirty Rons do we need? I like how they plonked one at kippax when there’s one 2 k up the road I. Charnwood

Anyone else seen the “McDonalds Opening Soon” sign at Giralang Shops? Girlfriend said she saw it the other day. Find it bizarre that we cant have another Woolworths but we can have another Mcdonalds!!!

gungsuperstar11:52 pm 05 Nov 13

There is sooooo much in this article to comment on:

– On the CT article – whether or not the impact study was accurate or not, how will $12.5m of sales have a “minimal impact” on other retailers?

– On “local shops” – I think Canberrans are as spoiled as hell in this regard. Nowhere else in Australia have a seen such an abundance of proper supermarkets. Yes, there are a lot of corner stores, glorified takeaways and 7-Elevens – but an IGA, Superbarn, Woolworths or Coles in nearly ever suburb? It’s actually overkill, and it’s something that I don’t think would happen anywhere else but Canberra. I’ve only just been reading about Canberra’s sense of entitlement (again) in the EFTPOS thread. Proper supermarkets in every suburb? Please.

– The Kaleen Supabarn is the worst supermarket in Canberra. I went there once, I couldn’t get anything I went there for, I nearly bought a roast beef before noticing the aforementioned best before issues, and then I waited 15 minutes in a checkout area not at all conducive to lines. Awful place, haven’t been back.

– These local major supermarkets are as over rated as hell. A trip to the Dickson Woolworths followed by a trip to the Gungahlin Woolworths removes any doubt whatsoever that competition drives prices down. That normal, every day products such as milk and bread can be 10% more expensive at Dickson is ridiculous – if anyone wants increased government regulation of supermarkets, this is where it needs to happen.

– I’ll do a fortnightly shop at the Gungahlin Coles – I LOVE this supermarket because it’s huge, the aisles are the widest I’ve seen in a supermarket, I’ve only been there twice in the 3 years that I’ve been in Gungahlin and not been able to get what I wanted. (Curiously, it was twice in the space of a week when the first time they couldn’t give me fresh ricotta, then they couldn’t give me fresh fetta)

But my in between shopping is done at the local IGA. Expensive, a little dingy, would never buy meat there in a million years – but I love the staff, and it has pay wave. I’d love to be one of these wonderful people that claims to want to support locals – but it’s not the case. I go cos it’s close and it’s convenient. I wonder how many of the martyrs on this thread are just like me, only a bit less honest.

Very frustrating for all residents of giralang being held hostage by outside interests. The only question I ask is how come they are using court documents in their complaint when the decision hadn’t been handed down?

Let’s keep fighting for a quality local centre for Giralang.

lostinbias said :

JimCharles said :

DrKoresh said :

Genie said :

Try buying a leg of lamb Sunday morning to put on for Sunday night roast, only to open it, throw up at the stench, and discover Supabarn’s best before date was covering up the manufacture’s best before date which was 1 month earlier.

They refused to provide a refund without the product. There was no way we were fetchin git out of the bin…

Ew. Yeah, I was in the Wanniassa store once when some guy came in to return rotten chicken, it stunk up the whole shop. At least I didn’t have to experience it first hand, but that prompted me never buy to meat from them.

Ha. I was in a SB looking at the meat…the homebrand stuff with the very plain labelling?
A woman holding a joint of pork actually nudged me and said out of the corner of her mouth : “Don’t buy the plain meat from here. And don’t think this is for me, it’s only fit for the cat”.

Supabarn Kaleen as of fairly recently has butchers on site cutting the red meat, rather than sourcing cuts from external suppliers.

If they’re still using the same z grade meat it won’t matter if butchers are cuttiing it onsite, it will still be terrible.

lostinbias said :

JimCharles said :

DrKoresh said :

Genie said :

Try buying a leg of lamb Sunday morning to put on for Sunday night roast, only to open it, throw up at the stench, and discover Supabarn’s best before date was covering up the manufacture’s best before date which was 1 month earlier.

They refused to provide a refund without the product. There was no way we were fetchin git out of the bin…

Ew. Yeah, I was in the Wanniassa store once when some guy came in to return rotten chicken, it stunk up the whole shop. At least I didn’t have to experience it first hand, but that prompted me never buy to meat from them.

Ha. I was in a SB looking at the meat…the homebrand stuff with the very plain labelling?
A woman holding a joint of pork actually nudged me and said out of the corner of her mouth : “Don’t buy the plain meat from here. And don’t think this is for me, it’s only fit for the cat”.

Supabarn Kaleen as of fairly recently has butchers on site cutting the red meat, rather than sourcing cuts from external suppliers.

I’ve never had a problem with any meat I’ve bought from Supabarn Kaleen, in fact that grass fed stuff they get is so damn good that I’m spoiled for anything else now. This as opposed to the butcher next door who sells shoe leather disguised as meat – I’ll never buy anything from them again.

DrKoresh said :

Genie said :

Try buying a leg of lamb Sunday morning to put on for Sunday night roast, only to open it, throw up at the stench, and discover Supabarn’s best before date was covering up the manufacture’s best before date which was 1 month earlier.

They refused to provide a refund without the product. There was no way we were fetchin git out of the bin…

Ew. Yeah, I was in the Wanniassa store once when some guy came in to return rotten chicken, it stunk up the whole shop. At least I didn’t have to experience it first hand, but that prompted me never buy to meat from them.

Luckily I wasn’t the one who did the throwing up.. I had a blocked nose and only got about 50% of the stench. But it stunk the entire house out for several hours, every window in the house was open with bowls of orange rinds and cinnamon steeping in hot water.

I actually haven’t spent a cent there since. I’d rather drive to Gungahlin and do my shopping at Coles or Woolworths. Least there I know they have a high turn over of stock and I don’t have to spend hours checking used by dates.

I also try to now buy meat from butchers more often than I had done in the past…

schmeah said :

I much prefer shopping at the local IGA than at woollies. As well as all the obvious Coles/woollies duopoly arguments, visiting the IGA means I don’t have to experience being crushed by masses of rude people squeezing through aisles and then waiting in a very long line of generally unhappy campers and the stock is pretty good and comparable in price.

What a hell of a generalisation. Clearly you have never set foot into Woolworths at Dunlop or Bonner. Shits on any IGA I have ever been in, without all the large supermarket issues, but with large supermarket prices. Oddly both stores seem well staffed too, a lot more than one would see at the average IGA around town.

Stuff the shops. They closed the Giralng Tavern…mmmmm beer, now you have to go to the sports club for a beer. It sucks.

JimCharles said :

DrKoresh said :

Genie said :

Try buying a leg of lamb Sunday morning to put on for Sunday night roast, only to open it, throw up at the stench, and discover Supabarn’s best before date was covering up the manufacture’s best before date which was 1 month earlier.

They refused to provide a refund without the product. There was no way we were fetchin git out of the bin…

Ew. Yeah, I was in the Wanniassa store once when some guy came in to return rotten chicken, it stunk up the whole shop. At least I didn’t have to experience it first hand, but that prompted me never buy to meat from them.

Ha. I was in a SB looking at the meat…the homebrand stuff with the very plain labelling?
A woman holding a joint of pork actually nudged me and said out of the corner of her mouth : “Don’t buy the plain meat from here. And don’t think this is for me, it’s only fit for the cat”.

Supabarn Kaleen as of fairly recently has butchers on site cutting the red meat, rather than sourcing cuts from external suppliers.

Genie said :

I’ve lived in Giralang for about 3-4 years now… I don’t understand why it’s an issue for Woolworths to open up at this site.

Just give us some damn shops !

Ideally one that isn’t a Supabarn or IGA. Supabarn Kaleen is forever selling old expired food and is over priced.

I much prefer shopping at the local IGA than at woollies. As well as all the obvious Coles/woollies duopoly arguments, visiting the IGA means I don’t have to experience being crushed by masses of rude people squeezing through aisles and then waiting in a very long line of generally unhappy campers and the stock is pretty good and comparable in price.

All that aside this Giralang issue is getting ridiculous, sounds like it could be a job for … Guilia!

voytek3 said :

You don’t deserve shops – you live in Giralang. No one cares.

I reckon if you got the f%*k off this site, no one would care.

Genie said :

I’ve lived in Giralang for about 3-4 years now… I don’t understand why it’s an issue for Woolworths to open up at this site.

Just give us some damn shops !

Ideally one that isn’t a Supabarn or IGA. Supabarn Kaleen is forever selling old expired food and is over priced.

Last line is your issue. Superbarn doesn’t want any competition and uses fear of domance of Woolworths and Coles as their weapon. I live in an area (Dunlop) where we have 3 Woolworths all reasonably close to each other, prices at those shops are good and the nearby ‘independents’ are still going too. Yet people still think the world is going to end when a Woolworths opens up. Yet to see a small guy get run out of business by them yet, which is the fear Supabarn peddles.

I lived in Giralang on Balamara Street for 5 years, shops were meant to begin construction soon when we moved in. The area became worse and worse, with more and more total deadshits tearing around the streets, doing donuts on the intersections, and smashing bottles around the school oval. Add to this the 1.5mb ADSL2 connection available, and the terrible houso neighbours, I was glad to see the back of Giralang. The only thing about the whole suburb I miss is the off road bike path which went directly around the lake and back.

DrKoresh said :

Genie said :

Try buying a leg of lamb Sunday morning to put on for Sunday night roast, only to open it, throw up at the stench, and discover Supabarn’s best before date was covering up the manufacture’s best before date which was 1 month earlier.

They refused to provide a refund without the product. There was no way we were fetchin git out of the bin…

Ew. Yeah, I was in the Wanniassa store once when some guy came in to return rotten chicken, it stunk up the whole shop. At least I didn’t have to experience it first hand, but that prompted me never buy to meat from them.

Ha. I was in a SB looking at the meat…the homebrand stuff with the very plain labelling?
A woman holding a joint of pork actually nudged me and said out of the corner of her mouth : “Don’t buy the plain meat from here. And don’t think this is for me, it’s only fit for the cat”.

Genie said :

Try buying a leg of lamb Sunday morning to put on for Sunday night roast, only to open it, throw up at the stench, and discover Supabarn’s best before date was covering up the manufacture’s best before date which was 1 month earlier.

They refused to provide a refund without the product. There was no way we were fetchin git out of the bin…

Ew. Yeah, I was in the Wanniassa store once when some guy came in to return rotten chicken, it stunk up the whole shop. At least I didn’t have to experience it first hand, but that prompted me never buy to meat from them.

DrKoresh said :

Genie said :

I’ve lived in Giralang for about 3-4 years now… I don’t understand why it’s an issue for Woolworths to open up at this site.

Just give us some damn shops !

Ideally one that isn’t a Supabarn or IGA. Supabarn Kaleen is forever selling old expired food and is over priced.

Yeah, I went to SB once and pretty much the entire biscuit aisle was expired. It’s a shame, I’d like to support local business if it weren’t so… crappy.

Try buying a leg of lamb Sunday morning to put on for Sunday night roast, only to open it, throw up at the stench, and discover Supabarn’s best before date was covering up the manufacture’s best before date which was 1 month earlier.

They refused to provide a refund without the product. There was no way we were fetchin git out of the bin…

DrKoresh said :

Genie said :

I’ve lived in Giralang for about 3-4 years now… I don’t understand why it’s an issue for Woolworths to open up at this site.

Just give us some damn shops !

Ideally one that isn’t a Supabarn or IGA. Supabarn Kaleen is forever selling old expired food and is over priced.

Yeah, I went to SB once and pretty much the entire biscuit aisle was expired. It’s a shame, I’d like to support local business if it weren’t so… crappy.

Really depends on who runs it, I reckon. Our local IGA was always pretty darn good. Then SB took over but kept the same franchisees to run it and it didn’t change much at all except for some different brands on the shelves. I moved away but still like shopping there when I pass.

I much prefer to have IGA over Woolworths as my local shop because the service is generally much, much better. And I like less choice because it means faster shopping!

We’re in a brand new development in the far North and patiently waiting for our local shops to be built. They just started so sounds like we’ll get them way before Giralang…

Genie said :

I’ve lived in Giralang for about 3-4 years now… I don’t understand why it’s an issue for Woolworths to open up at this site.

Just give us some damn shops !

Ideally one that isn’t a Supabarn or IGA. Supabarn Kaleen is forever selling old expired food and is over priced.

Yeah, I went to SB once and pretty much the entire biscuit aisle was expired. It’s a shame, I’d like to support local business if it weren’t so… crappy.

You don’t deserve shops – you live in Giralang. No one cares.

I’ve lived in Giralang for about 3-4 years now… I don’t understand why it’s an issue for Woolworths to open up at this site.

Just give us some damn shops !

Ideally one that isn’t a Supabarn or IGA. Supabarn Kaleen is forever selling old expired food and is over priced.

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