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When it was in its expansive mode a few years ago, I really liked the David Jones Food Chain. Sure it was expensive but there was something about its philosophy that felt good. It cared about its customers and listened.
In fact it had a notice board on which customers could provide suggestions. None were censored and staff posted candid replies. The management team went through the comments each month. It was a bit like a physical manifestation of a blog.
As I wrote in AFR Boss Magazine at the time:
“…more organic food and recyclable shopping bags were demanded and customers were told what action was taken. Some comments bring unexpected benefits. “I love the hot chocolate!” led management to discover that St Kilda was using a particular recipe, which is now used in other stores. Requests are heeded.
Anger at the $2 trolley fee forced a policy change, and electric toothbrush heads are now stocked after a customer suggested it.”
Sure it cost me a lot to shop there financially. But the store had the economic utility of making me feel good. When DJ’s closed Bayswiss with its peculiar mix of soft furnishings and food was simply odd. Now it is my local Super IGA, which is independent and run by a local businessman, which makes me feel good about shopping there.
But the ACCC with its Grocery Choice website makes me feel stupid because it is costing me over $12 more to shop at IGA than Coles, which is also closer to my house.
So where the bloody hell do I shop:
- Coles where it takes a nuclear war to ripen a tomato, the staff are downtrodden and the profits are around the $700 million mark.
- Safeway/Woolies which like Coles above has a national logistics network ensuring nothing ever need be sourced locally again.
- Aldi who are all Germans but sell very cheap stuff and are so efficient that they make enormous amounts of money from it. And it’s all really odd brands you’ve never heard of and quite possibly the bog roll is scented (but without a dolphin motif).
- IGA where the produce is of a good quality but in next 40 years assuming a average discount rate of 9% (including inflation) and will cost me an additional $96,127.13 which is enough to keep me in kinky Max Mosley German-style bondage sessions for a couple of years.
- Dan Murphy’s, part of the Woolworths empire, where a good wine such as Yalumba Y Seris viognier that should retail for about $14 will cost about $9.
- Vintage Cellars, where a posh boutique wine will be sold at a loss leader to drag people into the store but damage its premium branding and pricing structure.
- Prahran Market where everything seems good but costs a little bit more. And, according to a Victorian apple grower, gets second pick of his apples after Coles where they are cheaper. Also the bloke in the car park is a little Hitler.
- South Melbourne Market where the quality isn’t always as good as Prahran but it is becoming as expensive as Port Phillip Council turns it all posh and is putting rents up.
- Footscray or Victoria market where it is cheap and good (one meat supplier is in both Prahran and footscray) but I’ll have to spend a fortune on petrol and waste time getting there.
- Simon Johnson where I’ll be tempted by the cheese room and in season) fresh truffles but where I’ll be financing his Palm Beach lifestyle largely financed by Ortiz anchovies that cost $15.50 compared to (at current exchange rates) what is $6 in the UK (and yes that retailer marks the price up)
- Aussie Farmers Direct who aren’t even in my area.
- Greenline, which is probably run by hippies, where it took ages to find where the bog roll was.
- Grocer’s Animal Vegetable Mineral where the produce is brilliant and selected with love but only delivered in Sydney.
- The local farmers’ market where cronyism rules.
Help!
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Sell up, cross the river and shop in Brunswick where you get better variety, better prices and as good if not better quality from people who give a crap whether you care or not.
awww schuckssssss
*blushing*
Get back and watch the bloody olympic opening.
Haha.., a real conundrum indeed. I get quite a thrill from shopping at Aldi, plus they stock Jaffa Cakes, though the scented bog roll might put me off.
Hmm, I have a guilty pleasure at the Vic Markets, but when I have to, I go to Safeway/Coles.
Then…a whole lot of deils and then, a trip to the local IGA when I have forgotten something.
Go the independents. I’m fairly lucky, I have a good family run butchers (expensive but excellent quality plus they make all their own small goods/smoked stuff and stock organic meat/chicken) and an excellent fruit shop with plenty of organic gear(they also have a shop at vic market) all within walking distance from home. Coles is for cat food, bog roll (no scent or print thanks) and toothpaste.
The only good thing at aldi is the german gummy bears…
I buy very minimal items at my local big chain supermarket, I much prefer to get deli produce from Marissa’s Kitchen/Cardomones IGA in Fairfield mmmm home made dips and pasta! And I get my fruit n veg from the green grocers in Fairfield and get my meat from one of the butchers there (Brenta Meats). Melbourne local strip shopping at its best!
Do you have Coco’s in VIC?
I’ve been going there for a couple of years: saves me a fair bit because they don’t have the huge range of Coles/Woolies and so I am less tempted and I spend less. Plus I go to the local independent fruit barn and ditto butcher. However, all that does take more time than just one trip to the supermarket. But ethically, I feel better. Guess it’s a case of damned if you do, etc.
Good Grief!! Sooo easy!!! Vic markets for just about everything. Cheaper , better variety than Prahran or South Melbourne . I cross more than the river to get there(I’m in East Gippsland) to buy meat, fish, bread, cheese, fruit and veg, tinned tomatoes.. oh, and all stuff Asian across the road. Which leaves only a few usually non comestible items to be purchased at the supermarket which has to be an independent.
Where I shop depends on my energy levels but I am particularly fussy about fruit and bread because I really notice the difference when I spend more at smaller shops or markets - it means I eat better and have less waste - unfortunately my places of choice are nearer work than home so it depends on other demands on the day!
Your problems are about to increase - in a few months Cosco will be opening at Docklands!
Ashburton’s High Street shopping strip has an understated appeal. Top Shelf Fruits has the best quality produce in Melbourne, the Corner Deli is no-frills but stocks everything you need plus the weekly loaves of AG Vital. All topped off with a smallish IGA for essentials and an NQR for milk, yoghurt, and stuff that didn’t sell first time around because of naff packaging and misguided experimentation.
Cross the river! Fairfield shopping strip is fabulous. Leo’s in Heidelberg. Conga wholesalers, Preston market…lot’s of choices to feel good about.
Thanks everybody. All great suggestions but most mean I have to drive half way across town. i think the answer is to get on my bicycle and arrive at Vic Market with a sore arse.
Y, OMG!. Jaffa cakes at Aldi. I’m doing there even if I have to queue behind 15 million trolleys. IGA have sold out.
Ed - think of the bike as burning off the calories you garner whilst reviewing. Though one of the organic stalls at Vic Market do deliver and you can order online. I’ve listed them at SOLE Mama.
As they say, everything in moderation, including moderation. Me? I still do my fresh shopping locally and use public transport or walk.
But I’m lucky. I can get to Sth Melb on foot, Vic Market & to Victoria Street for Asian Grocers by tram with a shopping buggy. Farmers markets are close by and I eschew the cronyism there by supporting a handful of stallholders - who don’t have factories - that I have spent time getting to know. When out of town or visiting family in the burbs there are farm gates to stock up from. (eg. 10kg spuds, Daylesford $5)
I avoid the supermarkets, but when I can, I prefer to support the independents and aim to go to ‘Mom & Pop’ stores.
Cleaning/washing products/bog roll are bought in bulk from Office Cleaning suppliers and pooled amongst the family which keeps costs down and supports local businesses. Mostly they will deliver for free if ordering a fair whack of stuff. Chef’s Hat sells these kinds of thing upstairs too, if you have no one to split it with.
And therein lies the reason PG and I started SOLE Mama. Hopefully as the forum populates, people will tell each other where they shop and how they manage on a budget, whilst still eating fairly locally sourced and ethically. On that subject, ‘Postergirl PG’ hits the newstands this week in Notebook Magazine, profiled as a Mum of 5 who eat SOLE food on the cheap - woohoo!
Nameless Korean and Vietnamese grocery stores all the way. “Asian Groceries” on Brunswick St has a bit of a chain going.
Frozen esoteric fish, liquor sold on premises like the old days, for a while they were the only place to get rice too… what more do you need?
sorry ed this is for northsiders again… as dani points out, preston market is superb - great produce, excellent delis, much cheaper even than vic market and there’s also an aldi and a few different fantastic asian supermarkets. out on the high street are some great chinese restaurants for a quick wonton noodle fix afterwards. for us brunswick dwellers, stopping in at dan murphy’s in coburg then mediterranean wholesalers in brunswick on the way home make it an even more worthwhile trip. (by the way, the aldi store on sydney rd is almost ready to open!!)
re: prahran market - when i worked over that way, I used to check out the organic stalls there which usually have great specials on when they had gluts of seasonal produce.
Ok, I would like to ask the opposite question. Where is the best place for a food-lover to live in Melbourne?