Sick & tired of Woolworths...

[Stardrifter_WA]

Originally Posted by 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.

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 (Graeme)]

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 (Jarrod)]

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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 (Stew)]

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 (Marc)]

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 in Smithfield road. Bit dearer but you get what you pay for. There are also a lot of Italian importers (PRIMO) 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.

[Larryp (Laurie)]

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

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,

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 (Rom)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

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

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...

[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 (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

"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"

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]

Originally Posted by mental4astro

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

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 !

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by 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 !

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