Sick & tired of Woolworths...

[Peter Ward]

Perhaps it's my European heritage, but our household often enjoy's a good German or Latvian style rye-bread with slices of cheese, salami and dill-gerkin for lunch.

As it turns out, Helga's make a range of Rye's (Continental Sweet and Sour being my favorite) that we used to be able to obtain form our local "Woolies"

After an absence of some weeks from the shelves, I discovered yet again, our choices have been reduced by some bean counter in thier head-office, as Woolies have "deleted" that product line from our local.

Now we only have flaccid bread choices along with their other crappy watery "in-house" product lines.

Suffice to say, I will be on a mission to avoid shopping at "Woolies" :mad2:

Begging the question, it is just me? ...are you also tired of this profit driven lack of choice?

[Astro_Bot]

It's not just you. I now have to shop at 4 supermarket chains and a market to get what I want. I'm tired of low quality "no name" brands pushing better products off the shelves ... and they're not even that much cheaper.

[astroron]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Peter,I am :mad2:
They have got rid of my favourite Corn Flakes and replaced them with their's
They don't sell unsalted peanuts and Cashews anymore,and the list goes on and on:mad2:
I like you am looking for some where else to shop:shrug:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[rat156]

I Love them, they employ my daughter, who still raids my bank account to buy stuff off the internet.

Cheers
Stuart

[asimov]

Don't worry the same deal is happening in IGA & Coles...:shrug::mad2:

[Peter Ward]

Que? This lack of choice is supposed to make me feel good? :)

Damm it...

"I'm as mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!!! "

(apologies to Peter Finch in the movie "Network" )

[Larryp]

Woolies Bankstown had the bread you want, Peter. I think different branches delete items that do not volume sell, and cater to their local populations.
I guess Bankstown has a far greater immigrant population than Menai.

[Steffen]

So true! Australia is bread hell. As a German I cannot stand the white spongy stuff they're selling by the metric ton. We used to buy Helga's Schinkenbrot, but haven't seen it on the shelves (Woolworths or Coles) for months…

Coles' online store still lists it, but I haven't tried ordering it there.

We sometimes resort to buying the very expensive (but good) German breads from the Lüneburger bakery chain. Maybe I need to go back to making my own. I bought a pack of Laucke's sourdough rye mixture the other day, we'll see how that goes…

Cheers
Steffen.

[AndrewJ]

Actually, i think its a two edged sword, as i reckon they also find things that genuinely sell well, bring in their own version and slowly cull the original.
Getting harder and harder to find some of the good stuff these days as the direct "clones" have taken over. ( Clones in all but taste that is )

Andrew

[Peter Ward]

Really?

Hummm... Bankstown. :question:

[multiweb]

:lol: Don't get me started on bread and cheese... :rolleyes: On another note I find it pretty distressing that 'those two' after having muscled out all the little operators out are now feeding us s||t on toast by lack of choice. They've branched into everything I can think of now... hardware stores, food distribution, petrol, car insurance and the latest: Masters home improvement out there to shaft the sparkies and plumbers. Duopoly from hell. :wink2:

Down down, :rockband:we're going down... :lol:

[Peter Ward]

Bravo Seffen ! Einverstanden !!!

[Peter Ward]

I think we need a bread and cheese inspired revolution!

[Bassnut]

The CEO of Woolies sole reason for existence is to "maintain shareholder value" (being a public company). If "lack of choice" increases profit, the CEO is required to comply, its his job. The board hires the CEO and specifies his task (as above). The board is made up of major shareholders, including superfunds. They also exist to serve investors (including you, via your super fund).

The only solution, is for you to write a letter to your super fund and DEMAND a lower profit, increased product choice, and of course lower payout on your super.

[Lee]

Surely you'll find a little boutique continental bakery somewhere in the metropolis you live in that will supply a loaf that will even blow Helga's away.... support the little guys....

[mithrandir]

Peter, you could see if there is a market that sells Shepherd's Bakehouse somewhere convenient to you. They sell enough at Castle Hill markets that they opened a retail store in Castle Towers.

http://www.shepherds.com.au

[AstralTraveller]

My local Aldi stocks Helga's Rye bread and I'm pretty sure they have the line you prefer. They also have a few other 'not flaccid white' lines containing lots of birdseed. Maybe it's the local clientele, perhaps it's their German heritage.

Oh, and you have reminded me.
A Warning! Mostly country bakeries are pretty good, or at least acceptable. We travel a bit and between my love of pies and her love of cake we've visited a few. One the way home from the eclipse, however, I needed to bye some bread from the only bakery in Dysart. Last time I make that mistake. Wall to wall flaccid, sweet white sliced. No choice. I suffered through about a third of it before I passed another town. And their pie rated about 1/10.

[blink138]

EXACTLY lee!
I would not have thought that perth is luckier than any other capital city but we have 'new Norcia" (who only do sour dough in all of its forms) bakery around the corner also THE best Italian continental market / deli the "re store"
in the weekend paper another serious bakery in mount lawley, plus of course a lot of French type patisseries
loads of choice, better bread and owner occupied in most cases
pat

[multiweb]

Gee... am I lucky I've run my own SMSF for the past 10yrs then. I can still tell them where to stick their bread one slice at a time. Sunny side up. :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Hey Fred.

We have a SMSF.

We even have share in Woolies.

But the Richard-heads running the joint (or should I say, those with their fingers in the till) are still working on a paradygm that was tossed in the bin years ago...."profit at all cost"

A Eureka moment (notably with Southwest Airlines) was "look after your staff, they will look after your customers, then, they will look after you"

I guess we'll catch up eventually...:rolleyes:

But all I really wanted was a decent loaf of bread, for now...

[Hans Tucker]

Bingo...was his namo...well someone got the idea. Yes, the product line is based on what the locals want and what sells. It's got nothing to do with bean counters at head office...look to your local store manager. If you want to change it get enough people to oder the product in, search further afar, or move to an area that has a store that stocks what you want.

[multiweb]

So cool. :thumbsup: I guess the locals in my area want s||t bread and 9 months old fruit and tomatoes that rot from the inside out when they thaw out within 2 days. Awesome fresh food people. :rofl:

[barx1963]

My beef with Woollies is that as I am a sufferer from Menieres disease (that is dizzy spells brought on by fluid issues in the inner ear) I am trying to keep to a low salt diet. Woollies used to stock a specific low salt bread. About 18 months ago it is no more! I asked at the counter, no longer available.
Salt is a majpr dietary health issue in this country, but in towns like where I live the supermarkets dominate so you are left with absolutely no choice.

Malcolm

[hotspur]

Yes,woolies is not much fun,we have a catering business,and over the last twelve years,and their product line up,has gone down hill,we do not like to use ingredients from overseas-but these days,with all their 'select' brands -one spends lots of time reading the labels,to find Australian products.

Why does Australia have to sell everyone else's rubbish?,and all this made in china rubbish stamped 'product of NZ' its rather shameful.Sounds petty-but the only Australian peas I can get are Edgel-all others are from OS,and that goes on right through my list of stuff to buy.

I have no choice-its 72 Km's too and then back again.But I hope you-Peter,can travel around locally and get your bread.I would not even feed woolies bread to the ducks-its awful.

[Hans Tucker]

No...I am only talking brand product line availability. The crap fruit and vegetables is another issue. I wouldn't advise anyone to buy fruit and vegetables at either Coles or Woolworths. The trouble is that due to price that people want to pay the two big companies were allowed to force/price the local Fruit/Veg vendors out of the market or local area and now the selection is restricted. Consumers have to share some of the blame.

[Kunama]

I love my rye bread and luckily for me, my Australian born wife loves all things Finnish and bakes all the Finnish breads and cakes I love so much.

We buy the rye flour in bulk and a loaf ends up costing about $1 each.

There's nothing quite like fresh bread straight out of the oven with butter melting into it ! :2thumbs:

[Peter Ward]

Arrrrgh!!! You lucky bugger!

Sadly I don't think if everyone on IIS withdrew their support for Woolies, that they'd even notice. (sadly, ~12k subscribers is just a pimple on the WW butt)

But.. if you tell just a few friends/relatives then the effect becomes exponential...

[Gruffalo]

Our local NoWorths stocks very even handedly, but I despise shopping there - HORRENDOUSLY inflated prices, limited stock choice and that banal, nauseating 1920's style "theme song" they play that drives you insane.

So, I shop Aldi (GOOD range of Deutsches und europäisches produkt) at good prices. Also will shop at Coles because of their VERY extensive range.

NoWorth's get's my dollar only when absolutely necessary, like late night where it's 5km closer to WW than Coles (soon to change, URAH!). I even prefer IGA when I can so as to help the Mum and Pap businesses, despite the slightly higher price.

[DJT]

Am on a mission to not have to shop in coleies if at all possible. Have got it down to PG Tips, sugar, cat food and laundry products.

Local Harris farm works fine for me. Not sure about the Helgas products but they do stock Delbas.

I reckon I can get them to stock sugar though as I know someone who knows the buyers. Great ethos that place.

[Gruffalo]

Oh yeah, as to bread, we make rye and Baradinski here all the time, with a smattering of Sourdough. I keep a starter of Baradinski constantly.

NOTHING beats Baradinski with just some olive oil with crushed rock salt... DELISH!

[multiweb]

hmm... not really. Wollies plays real dirty at best. I've seen all the local shops dying in my area over the past 15 years. So there's one coles on the left of the arcade and one woollies on the right. The argument at the time was that the price war was between wollies and coles but it's all BS. They're the one and the same. Just an excuse to bottom out pricing. Now nobody's left the war is over and both sides have similar pricing. They check each other every morning and price adequately for the day making sure they don't undercut each other. It's good cop bad cop. One day you, one day me. Hand in hand. Business as usual.

[Hans Tucker]

Yep, that is what the store manager had me do when I worked for Coles as a junior 30 years ago. My god...did I say 30 years ago...now I feel old.

[asimov]

IGA hire better looking check out chicks dudes...End of story:eyepop::lol::hi:

:thumbsup:

[acropolite]

I'm in the same boat, there are several products I can no longer buy at Woolworths.

What the bean counters can't factor in is that often I visit an independant or the opposition who still stock the item and they (woolies) miss out on more than the sale of one item.

I once had a conversation with a lady who had complained in writing to them for removing an item from the shelves, they actually restocked the item following her complaint.

[Kunama]

I wonder what it would be like to have a choice !

We are 7klms from the Woollies, Coles is 52 klms down the road, ALDI 53.5klms!

[Peter Ward]

Aye carrumba. :sadeyes:

All I wanted was some decent rye bread.

It seems elsewhere (like Canada/USA) the board of Woolies/Coles duopoly would be behind bars.

How stupid are we? :shrug:

[Stardrifter_WA]

Although I know where you are coming from, as Coles is moving more and more to its own brands as well, and finding alternative sources is getting harder and harder, considering Coles and Woolworths have high market share. I like a certain brand of pickle, which is no longer sold here, so I import it directly from England, by the grate load.

But, also consider this; is it all in the mind?

As part of my marketing studies I conducted a survey to see which brand people like the most. In this case it was coffee, of which there were three well known brands, one good name, one mediocre and a low cost brand. However, they could see each coffee jar that they were sampling and nearly everyone chose the Maccona brand. Only problem was, all the jars contained the same brand of low quality coffee.

Most wondered why it wasn't a blind test and questioned why they saw the brands they were tasting. The exercise was actually to determine if brand names affect peoples perceptions. Out of the 30 odd people who participated, only 1 realised it was actually the same coffee in all jars.

This exercise was conducted a few times, with other products, with similar results. Conclusion, whether correct or not (statistically its a small sampling) was that a lot of people have certain perceptions about brand names without realising the actual differences in the products.

Obviously, this would not have worked for all products.

However, I am no different as I prefer, without any real basis, or comparisons, certain products. Marketing works, the amount of money spent on advertising and promoting products is enormous. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work.

Cheers Peter

[Stardrifter_WA]

Well Peter, seems most Australians are pretty stupid really, as if they simply didn't buy those products, Coles and Woolies would soon change that policy.

The question then becomes, should business be heavily regulated by the Government? Personally, I think not. We all have the power, if only we used it collectively, we could change their policies.

Coles got rid of my favourite bread too. Fortunately, I have sourced a replacement elsewhere.

Cheers Peter

[Gruffalo]

The ONLY store that stocks the type of Gherkins we eat is Aldi, and they are the cheapest. NO sweet Gherkins here thanks! Salty with a TOUCH of vinegar. Sweet Gherkins make me dry heave.

[UniPol]

Looks like you might have the bread flown in Peter, an air drop perhaps ?

[Stardrifter_WA]

Aldi is supposed to be coming to WA soon.

[TrevorW]

I spend nearly $10000 a year at Woolies and have been going to the same store for years, they took my wifes breakfast cereal Oatbrix off the shelf until I told the local store manager that it's a shame I'll have to shop elsewhere to get what I want.

[GraemeT]

Although I'm probably not going to influence them in any way, I refuse to buy ANY home branded product from Colesworths, any imported food when there is an Aussie brand on the shelf, and anything at all from the duopoly when there is an IGA or independent grocer or fresh market.
Thanks for the heads-up on Shepherds, by the way.

[JB80]

There would be an uproar here if there wasn't a sufficient bread selection. Even the smallest branch of the local supermarket chains all have their own in house bakery and offer a excellent selection of breads.
That said the culture here and more so in France is different in terms of bread. There is a bakery on every corner and bread is eaten with every meal, it's actually a rather nice way to go about it.

I think it's just the culture more so than Woolys to blame, as it was mentioned earlier about the demand.
If anything it's just another reason to support a good local bakery instead of big business.

The lack of good bread and cheese in Oz would drive my wife crazy, we often joke about moving back and starting a farm to make real cheese.

[Gruffalo]

I WILL if the homebrand is Australian or NZ made.

I REFUSE to buy Chinese food of ANY kind. No ifs or buts, I am NOT feeding that poisonous crap to my family! I have SEEN FIRST HAND how the Chinese cultivate, using the filthiest pond scum water possible, and probably heavy metal contaminated (I don't care what the testing says to be honest, having a background in pathophysiology). And Chinese chocolate... you have to be kidding!

So, we predominately shop Aldi - mostly European, Kiwi or Aussie produce, with thankfully only a small smattering of Chinese made gadgets.

[louie_the_fly]

I hate shopping at woolies with a passion. They dress everything up to make people think they're getting something special & charge a fortune for it. Coles are not far behind either. We shop at our local Foodland (IGA). It's family owned with 4 smallish stores in our neighboring towns. They support our local communities by sponsoring our sports clubs & community groups. So we shop there even though the range is a bit limited. And they have Gold Star traditional rye breads. Beat's Helgas by the length of the autobahn ;). Our family (3 generations of squareheads) has been eating it for 40 odd years. Great with liverwurst and gerkin.

[Gruffalo]

And where to get the best pumpernickel too... :)

[multiweb]

We used to shop ALDI overseas and I was glad to see they made it here eventually. Good for canned stuff and bulk condiments, frozen, icecream, olive oil, etc... Used to shop to Franklins mostly until Woolies took them over. I find the 'fresh food' quality, i.e. fruits and veggies not consistant at all from one coles or woolies to the other. Not sure why some have good ones and others don't. Regardless I don't think it should be legal to sell snap frozen stuff like what they do. It can't be healthy or good for people. The latest ads saying 'the veggies are still alive in the shop' made me chuckle.... Maybe in cryo... The fresh stuff I get from little operators (the ones that are left) and an Italian mob called FRED (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?rls=com.microsoft:en-au&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=fred+one+stop+fruit+shop&fb=1&gl=au&hq=fred+one+stop+fruit+shop&hnear=0x6b129838f39a743f:0x3017d681 632a850,Sydney+NSW&cid=0,0,5460401559191855785&sa=X&ei=Mc3IUYjCNc-HkgW874HQDw&ved=0CHoQ_BIwAQ) in Smithfield road. Bit dearer but you get what you pay for. There are also a lot of Italian importers (PRIMO (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?rls=com.microsoft:en-au&q=Unit+4+/+18-20+Elizabeth+St+Wetherill+Park+NSW+ 2164&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48293060,d.dGI&biw=1347&bih=877&wrapid=tlif137211399815810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=VMzIUYLlFsHbkQWe5oDgAQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg)) in Wetherill park (Elizabeth Street) that will stock anything you can think off in bulk or detail retail. They open on week-ends. Worth the trip if you wanna stack up. For bread I've been using a local guy for the past 17yrs. I can't stand the sliced stuff but still have to swallow it sometime. :P

[Larryp]

We do all our grocery shopping in Woolworths at Bankstown-just the convenience of everything in the one place. There is a large fruit and veg shop close by, and they keep Woolie's prices honest. We get our bread from a Vietnamese bread shop in Bangor-these people have won prizes at the Royal Easter Show for their bread, its so good.
I have tried Aldi, and their prices are good, but they don't stock half of what I want, so I have to go to Woolworths anyway-maybe Aldi should stop selling tools, etc. and concentrate on food.:)

[AndrewJ]

Gday Peter


Try the biscuits then ;)
No attempt to cover whats been "cloned" for your convenience etc.
TimTams, MintSlice, Arnotts Nice, Scottish Shortbreads etc
are all clear ripoofs of the original, and definitely taste worse.

Andrew

[Barrykgerdes]

I spend about $8000 per year at the supermarkets, Woolworths, Coles and IGA. Most is spent ($5000) at the local IGA super store because it is very close (at the corner of the street), has everything at the same price as the others, has friendly service, no waiting at the checkout. They open a new check out every time there gets to be more than two customers waiting. They also carry our parcels to the car.

I use Woolworths and Coles about equally for the rest when I need odds and ends while at the main shopping centres.

Barry

[el_draco]

We gave up on Woolies and Coles years ago. Sick to death of the crap product rip off pricing and monopolising of the food chain with their branded products.

We hit farmers markets, buy in bulk where we can and have bought a "Thermomix" it cost us about $2k but paid for itself in a year and we get top notch meals for a song. Amazing machine.

[Peter Ward]

Made a complaint to woolies...and actually got a reply this morning, to wit:

"Helga's Continental Sweet and Sour Black Rye 900g was deleted from our range after a review of our products in this category, demand for this product was not in line with customer expectation.

As new, improved and more popular products are launched; our product range must change in-line with demand"

Demand not in line with customer expectation???? WTF? Who's expectation?

They rarely had it in stock, and when they did, it was placed the bottom shelf and yet it sold out almost instantly...:mad2:

[Gruffalo]

Peter, like Laurie said, shop elsewhere. Depends on the local demographic.

At a previous residence, the predominant ethnicity was European, so the IGA and Coles stocked a lot of European stuff. GREAT! Then we moved temporarily into a predominately Asian ethnocentric area (whilst our new house was being built), and of course the Asian varieties unfortunately predominated, and finding even a bottle of olives sometimes was a problem!

Let yur feet do the talking.

I find 99% of what I need in Aldi. The rest I get from the local IGA or Coles. I even bought the family all our easter chocolate at Aldi, because Australian chocolate is FAR too sweet (German chocolate is pretty good).

[mental4astro]

You're right Peter. What a load of corporate bullcrap! This is just PR babble to fob off people asking questions.

How many people know that the so-call "specials" these bullies run are not a discount that they give from their price, but that the product's producer is discounting the product - Woolies and Coles still get the same amount of money from the stuff. The only true discounting they do is when they mark the stuff as "clearance" so that they don't need to chuck it in the bin, but make a few bucks more after they've cleared their projected profit from the line.

The product producers PAY these companies for shelf space. This is another reason why their product range is diminishing as the smaller producers of food and stuff just can't afford the blasted shelf space.

If you don't have an alternative but to only shop with these two, I'm sorry for you. If you have an alternative, like the specialist fruit and vege shops and bakers, and you don't buy from them, you're playing right into their grubby hands.

[Peter Ward]

Indeed- meaningless babble.

The good news... for me at least... is Coles in Illawong still carry the Helga's Continental Bakehouse range...and it's cheaper than Woolies ! :thumbsup:

[PeterM]

And you get a chance to win One Direction Tickets...... wish they would tour the Que.