Woolies - because of parking (and it’s near my favourite coffee shop); Salad Bowl - locally baked bread available, local fruit & vegs, also great deli options (part of a Hobart chain Hill St stores); Vermey’s butchers for good cuts of locally grown meat.
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In general I find Woolies still has broader ranges to select from than Coles, specifically more name brands as well as some specialty products (eg premium Yarra Valley products). Coles has increasingly focused on Coles house brands plus one name brand for most products and where Coles still offer multiple name brands they are being phased to Coles+1 brand as their business model.
Woolies also has a butchery counter where Coles appears to have all their meats prepacked and sent in from central locations. Want 600g of mince, or this steak and that steak? You can buy that at Woolies but not Coles (prepacked ‘sets’) as a basic difference.
Regardless we prefer to shop our local Coles when they have the products we want. Our Coles usually has better stocked shelves and everything is usually priced. When there is a worry the local Coles supervisor/management always take ownership and resolve it as if they were head office. In contrast our Woolies has myriad missing prices, it is common to experience empty shelves for certain specials (it is common enough whoever erroneously forecasts stocking is over-employed) and many problems are ascribed to ‘head office’ - perhaps the local supervisor/management are not empowered, or it is the working directive to ‘hold the line’ at the shop-front, or they do not get customer service, at least in comparison to the Coles that is barely 100m across the street.
There is an Aldi 100m in the other direction from the Woolies but we are not into their 99.5% house brand business model and are disinclined to regularly wander over for the few things they have we are enamored with, and I acknowledge they sell a few products that are among the best available, so maybe once per quarter for them?
A local with a few shops, Leo’s Fine Foods (Heidelberg Vic) is a good 30 minutes away in traffic and more expensive, but reflects what grocers used to be with good ranges and superior fresh items. Were they more convenient. As it is shopping with them is the irregular treat.
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Woolies is doing the same, lots of my previously favourite products have vanished, to be replaced by Woolies macro brand. Often a reasonable choice has disappeared, leaving no choice at all, macro brand being the only option.
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That is one of the things I love about our local Supa IGA.
Only they stock my wife’s milk. Pauls Physical, Leggos Original Chunky Pickles and other favourites as well as having the cheapest price on my milk, Dairy Farmers Heart Active.
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A problem with IGA and stocking is that each store seems able to select what they sell. We have a McCormick pepper we actively seek out - it is subtly different from other brands. Most IGAs around here do not stock it, and while some stock most if not all the McCormick spice line, some do not stock any of it or at east not enough to matter.
(a McCormick web site snip, not an IGA snip)
Neither Coles nor Woolies have that range either, but it is the irritation of inconsistency with IGAs, at least around here, from our experience.
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Although not part of the survey, our lifestyle often sees us doing major shops away from our immediate townships.
Aside from trends within a particular supermarket chain, the difference between stores in the same chain based on location is also notable.
The occasional Coles expedition seems nothing like the Master Chef adds. Perhaps, it seems as if it is a different business that owns and runs Coles in regional Qld?
We could also pick on Woolies, with it being a line ball as to whether the store in Mt Isa trumps Alice? As the fresh food people the distribution chain appears to challenge the image the further the store is from centralised distribution.
For IGA the notion the store owner can buy direct and local is great. However the one owner we knew personally left the franchise as there were restrictions on what had to be purchased through the distributor.
It might just be which super market is more than just about the brand,
where corporate practice or policy delivers different quality of outcomes depending on where the store is located?
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We shop at Fruit & Veg and Butcher when we can spare the travel time. Also use local Deli instead of Coles/Woollies, Bakers Delight for bread etc
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I am buying for just one now, so easier to learn who stocks what i like. In Hobart i spread my shopping around, between Coles, Woolies and Hill St, so i shop in small manageable quantities.
Here in Lombok Indonesia there are 3 main small-medium size supermarkets: Alfamart, Indomart and J Mart - where there is also variation in shelf stocking between branches of the same brand. This can be annoying, or a blessing.
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Woolworths Coles pay the ATO 29% tax,overseas companies pay very little,
Aldis electrical are issues so i stay away from that part.
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Purchasing at Woolworths because they deliver ($15 fee.)
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Normally i do my shopping at Coles and Woolworths and grab as many specials i can.I don’t bother about Aldi as if you shop well enough you can pick up stuff just as cheap and the product your getting is better than Aldi anyway
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Yes Aldi is not all what they say some foods are just the same as Coles,Woolworths and the rest of retail outlets the only one I have found is spud shed.
I use Aldi, IGA and Woolworths regularly, and occasionally Coles. I live in a small country town which has a Farmer’s market monthly and IGA.
For freshness and variety in the Dairy cabinet, I have found Aldi’s quality is similar to my local IGA, both are superior to Coles, and a bit below Woolworths. e.g. I prefer Aldi’s Colby Cheese over the other home brands. Milk-wise, we like to buy Kiewa Milk because it’s local and helps our farmers.
For freshness in the Fruit and Veggies area, I prefer to buy from Aldi (in the pre-packed box as it fits well into my fridge) or loose from elsewhere providing I look properly for over-ripe fruit & veg; use by or best before dates, if it’s prepackaged (and it would help to have a date of when packed).
Price per kg - many pre-packed veg like tomatoes are priced per half kg! Need a price/kg next to it. I’ve noticed this is a trend in all the stores.
Have been dissatisfied with the age/quality of free-range eggs sold in the supermarkets. By the time we buy them, the egg white is breaking down and becoming runny. I now buy them only from the Farmer’s Market or the local Butcher.
Wodonga has Arnold’s Fresh Food Market and the food there is separated between first quality and seconds. The first quality fruit & veg are superior to all the supermarkets mentioned above. The seconds will go off as you look at them.
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Yes Aldi’s dry foods are not much and the centre Isles are a great trick .
Woolies and Coles ok , Coles better for Vegos though.
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