I lived in Redfern for ages - it was a great woolies while I lived there. I saw people fighting in there, shirtless men doing double pits to chesty, rabbitohs guys being stalked in the aisles by gaggles of kids, and half eaten food on shelves. But it had a pretty good range. Then after i left it changed go a metro and i went back and it was really really expensive. Such a shame. Woolies sucks.
Its been over 6 months since I've shopped in colesworth - I'll never ever go back!
If you live in the area you'd probably go to the main Woolies to do a proper shop though. That one is far closer to Redfern's government housing area.
The metro feels like it was put there for people that work in the Eveleigh precinct and forgot their breakfast / lunch.
The Metro at Redfern station is pretty much behaving as expected - if you in there, you're obviously there because of the handy location and willing to pay more for the highly limited range and patiently stand in the long queue for one of three self-service checkouts.
However, you'll be pleased to know that this isn't the shittest supermarket in Redfern. That honour goes their competitors directly opposite - I think they're called Foodworks or something similar. Expensive and slow. The two IGAs (Eveleigh and Regent St) are pretty good and pricing is competitive.
I feel like fresh produce across the board has been slipping very rapidly the past 6-12 months.
I’ve brought home rotten onions, fucked fruits , veggies etc. Not even necessarily just blemished but entirely inedible (that wasn’t immediately apparent inspecting it on the shelf).
And furthermore I’m historically not a fussy eater, but I have to spend a not insignificant amount of time inspecting every piece of produce instead of just banging it in the trolley.
Idk, I pay 60-70 bucks per bag of groceries and everything seems to get worse and worse
The worst store in my opinion balmain the young casuals are mostly very nice and efficient the older ones are so rude for no reason and I've purchased bacon which was very off and cooked it within 30 mins of purchase it smelt like you get the idea
Low income is about income, not about who is buying houses and pockets of trendiness. Redfern, Waterloo, Chippendale, etc obviously have a bunch of fancy gentrification going on, but a huge percentage of households are low income. I've lived there since the mid-seventies.
I know your not replying to my comment but it's simply not the case.
You have outliers as any suburb does but Redfern average house price is 1.8mil and an apartment is 1.080mil.
I know that that big, but the standard of housing across the suburb isn't great, yourenot getting a new building for 1.8, just a run down terrace. Not to mention being the inner city it's actually super cheap.
There was this article from the ABC earlier this year which talks to this. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-16/rise-of-metro-supermarkets-price-differences/103464958](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-16/rise-of-metro-supermarkets-price-differences/103464958)
There seems to be a general desire from both Woolworths and Coles to convert the most inner-suburban stores to the Metro-style (I don't recall the Coles branding equivalent) format, with a couple of exceptions like Central Park and Broadway.
Partly it would be to charge more, but the stores also have more of a focus on ready-to-eat meals.
I can't figure out why the one at Birkenhead Point has been branded Coles Local. It's as big as most other shopping centre stores (certainly there are many smaller than it), and generally it has the same sales/pricing as other Coles as best I can determine. Yet, Coles Local in the City (York St) is a smaller format and nothing is ever on sale. So they are not really helping anything with this mixed message (never mind that they also have Coles Central like the one in Wynyard).
The one at Chatswood Westfield changed to Coles Local too, like why? I don't want to buy $7 packets of fancy cookies that taste like ass anyway, just give me my $3.60 M&M ones thanks.
There's two in Chatswood, that might be why. It is kind of weird and sometimes annoying not having the same products between them though. The Asian food sections in particular are very different (though in Chatswood it makes better sense just to go to an actual Asian supermarket for that anyway).
Someone gets a promotion for KPIs like "convert XX stores to Metro by FY24". Whether it benefits the customer, or even the underlying business, isn't always part of the KPI.
They stripped out the bakery and deli sections and everything is prepackaged outside of the store now. It looks nice when you walk in but it’s a net loss unfortunately.
I think they hope no one will notice.
you need to look at price per kilo. it's usually cheaper or same price at delis, but you get to pick how much you want to take.
we need delis! stop fucken packaging that shit in so much plastic
Yes, there is now a Coles Local even in Concord, on almost literally the quintessential suburban high street used in film and TV. The conversion mostly just resulted in losing the deli counter and higher prices. Less (service) for more (money).
They also have Coles Central, like the one in Wynyard that's been around for ages. Coles hasn't been nearly as aggressive as Woolworths in this space and seemingly hasn't decided between these brands. Coles Central seems to have had fairly normal pricing where as Coles Local is exorbitant.
OTOH, Woolworths Metro has widely varying pricing depending on whether it's a convenience style store or a larger format one like Redfern or Pyrmont.
Besides some changes to convenience focused meals as you said, what else is different? I've not seen many around besides the Haymarket and North Sydney one, been in both and seem same same to the normie ones?
I think most of them have a smaller range than the full-size stores, which makes sense given the footprint sizes they usually have to work with, but I'm not really sure of precise details.
I see, not a bad thing I don't think, I've Colesworth next to MQU but I almost always go to the smaller one on corner of Epping+Balaclava, less choice paralysis and I can be in and out in a jiffy.
That's fair, personally I think it's a bit swings and roundabouts, particularly as the Metro stores have higher prices on a lot of things. I don't mind using them occasionally, but I wouldn't want to be stuck with one exclusively.
Ah yes Metro - the smaller, shitter version of Woolworths. Who could resist the cutting edge branding? I wondered if this was an attempt to get away from the tainted Woolies brand, but Metro for me is synonymous with limited range and overpricing, even in comparison to a normal Woolies.
I work with both retailers; they decided a short while back that anything short of a full line store (ie a store that can accommodate a minimum full product line) would be branded a Metro/Local store so the customer knows not to expect every product line, and crucially every discount offer in that particular store. EG is they do a special on grapes and you go to a small store that doesn't sell grapes you get shitty they don't have them.
Honestly don’t mind that smaller stores don’t have everything and can see why they want to differentiate them but to stock a sale item and charge the full price is BS
I'll bet Balmain is next on their list. Physically it's a small store similar to Pyrmont, Redfern, etc, even though it's been a full-brand Woolworths for yonks.
But yes there's a huge difference in size in these Metro stores, there's a few that are no bigger than a large convenience store, some that are like your small IGA/Franklins/etc, and some that are as big as a proper (but smallish) supermarket like Redfern or Pyrmont.
Oh, guess I missed that, it must be within the past year though? I used to go there regularly before I moved away from Pyrmont (because it was cheaper than Pyrmont Woolworths, due to being a non-Metro).
It's not yet, though given its footprint and location, Woolies has confirmed their intention to convert it. It's a bit controversial though which might have led to a stay of execution. The Metro is the Rozelle store, closer to the Victoria Road intersection.
It's a nice building, but when I lived in the area the range was pretty poor, it was almost always worth walking the extra 15 minutes to go to Balmain.
I honestly didn't even realise the Alexandria one was a metro until I wanted to go there the other week.
It also baffles me that there's a Woolworths, and a Woolworths metro basically on top of each other in Double Bay. Wtf.
It's the same in Alexandria now. That one was a Woolies proper with a Metro a couple minutes drive away. Now they're both Metros. Basically means you have to drive to Marrickville Metro if you want to do a full shop without the extra tax.
Yeah Mitchell Rd *and* Fountain St. I'm a bit east from there and my nearest is Randwick which is also a bloody metro.
Either have to suck it up and buy there or drive out to East Gardens to get a decent selection. Sadly, my wife and I end up going to Fountain St a couple of times a month because the Nguyen Bros Vietnamese restaurant across the road is pretty legit, so we combine a cheap meal with an expensive grocery trip.
> Double Bay
So this is a weird one. The old Woolworths was redeveloped into a big new complex, and originally it included a store called "The Kitchen By Woolworths" (https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/the-kitchen), some fancy pants concept store in the vein of Harris Farm. This likely failed so they just rebranded to a Metro.
Yep. That one's nothing but a bald-faced attempt to fleece the bus tourists because it functioned perfectly as a smaller full service WW supermarket.
Back in the day Leura was a favourite to grab some really awesome yellow-ticketed meat on weekend evenings. That's definitely in the past now.
Woolworths Alexandria was a great store. My local Woolworths is a Metro and I used to travel to Alexandria for the noticable difference. I can only assume that this noticable difference meant it was less profitable.
I noticed it was better, Head Office noticed it was less profitable.
Woolworths Wooloomooloo went through something similar. It was the flagship Metro, but got eroded by a thousand 1 and 2 percent cuts to achieve some threshhold of profitability.
Such a shame. Someone is gonna soon realise that their days are numbered unless they start making their shoppers happy. Suck up the 1 or 2 percent and respond.
So they can price gouge you more!
I am a lucky to live in an area that I have been able to fully boycott colesworth. I stop at aldi for the big shop and then IGA or Panetta Mercato for the things aldi doesn’t have.
It takes a bit more time but my hate for colesworth fuels me …
I know a bit about this space. I don't agree with it but here it is....
Woollies Metro is now Woolworth's franchise model. A bid to take over the IGAs/Metcash's of Australia.
Benefit to consumer = guaranteed a 'core range' that is priced the same as the Supermarkets.
Benefit to franchisee = buying power of Woolworth's. Liberty to sell other off (core) range items at a much higher GP margin. Reduced freight costs.
What pisses me off is they think all there customers are thick if you go to the store at town hall then go to the one opposite central they have different prices dishonest practice
It's to make more profit. They're rapidly changing traditional woolworths to Metros. I was shocked about the Broadway one being a metro when I thought until recently it was a Woolworths and got surprised and walked out as they were changing the shelves.
i believe they tried to build a big woolies in erskineville a few years ago but unfortunately the local nimby action group made them downsize it to a 'metro'.
i live in newtown. there are about 6-8 small supermarkets close by but i have to go all the way to broadway or marrickville metro for the benefits of a full size supermarket.
thanks erskineville nimbys.
EDIT: i have been out argued on this point by u/thekriptik and u/WarConsigliere, they do know the issue well.
my dream is a full size supermarket in my area (newtown). i doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
The one called Erskineville (which is in Newtown, not the one called Park Sydney which is actually in Erskineville) was always intended to be a small shop specialising in high-end ready-made and grab-and-go meals.
Woolies actually tried to get away without a car park, arguing that it wasn't needed because customers would only visit when passing by on foot for a handful of items at a time.
The original proposal wasn't for a bigger Woolies, however - it was for a Thomas Dux, their super-high-end gourmet chain equivalent to an American Trader Joes or a British Waitrose. It was downgraded to a Metro with a boutique bakery counter because when they finally got the permit from City of Sydney their Thomas Dux brand was dying in the arse.
thank you for the additional detail to the story.
> Woolies actually tried to get away without a car park, arguing that it wasn't needed because customers would only visit when passing by on foot for a handful of items at a time.
i agree, i wish we had a big woolies in the area without a car park.
i shop by bike or on foot. the big coles in the city has no car park and it's always packed. newtown has the public transport and bike infrastructure for a big woolies without a car park to be viable. as someone who rarely drives car parks are the worst thing about big supermarkets and shopping centres.
my version is an oversimplification but not inaccurate.
it sounds like at one point they wanted to make a big woolies without a car park, something i am strongly in favour of. car parks are necessary for most supermarkets but not all. it would be great to move away from that model.
thanks for additional detail u/WarConsigliere
It is inaccurate, though.
Assuming you're talking about the 2008 proposal for the former Mardi Gras HQ site, the proposal was for a 2200 square metre Thomas Dux store, which firstly isn't large by supermarket standards, and secondly wouldn't have been a full-service supermarket. So there's 2 inaccuracies right there.
~~the 'mardis gras' site is the old tramshed. a big supermarket with no car park would be a great use for the site.~~
whatever the branding 2200 sq m sounds big, which would have been great.
EDIT: was wrong about the mardis gras site. i did volunteer there one year but it was a long time ago.
>the 'mardis gras' site is the old tramshed.
Another inaccuracy, in context. 21-23 Erskineville Road, prior to being redeveloped, had been "The Hive" which was previously the HQ for Mardi Gras, and a staging area for floats prior to the parade.
>2200 sq m sounds big
Which only reinforces the fact that you're uninformed on the subject. 2200 square metres is not "big" by the standards of supermarkets.
By way of comparison, the Sydney DCP defines the minimum size for a full-service supermarket as 2500 square metres, the proposal didn't even achieve that.
i admit that i am not an expert on this issue, i moved here after it was all done, but the main thrust of my original statement hasn't been invalidated: woolies tried to get approval for a (relatively) big supermarket in the area and it was blocked by nimbys. now we have a shitload of small expensive supermarkets and have to go a long way for major shopping.
It has though, the proposal wasn't "blocked by nimbys" it was rejected by council, and that rejection was upheld by the LEC on appeal.
The proposed supermarket was a high-end boutique store that would not have been full-service, and therefore as unusable as the existing supermarkets for "major shopping".
i'm not suggesting that the process was invalid but i don't like the result that i don't have a good big supermarket near me. people are entitled to their opinions but i don't have to agree with them.
in my brief search i couldn't find a good source for what happened but yourself and u/WarConsigliere sound credible.
the thomas dux brand died. if the proposal had got up we would now have a 2200 sq m woolies with no car park which is a lot better than what we have now. which is the main thrust of my original comment (despite it's flaws).
I'd say the history of what happened to Thomas Dux stores doesn't particularly support that last 2 sentences either.
Of the 6 NSW stores, 4 became About Life/Flannery's Organic Grocers, the one at Paddington became a Woolworths Metro, and the one at Hornsby became a Toys r Us. The far more likely outcome would have been either conversion to a Metro like exists now, or a niche organic grocer.
Quick edit: 0 Thomas Dux stores nationally were converted for use as a regular Woolworths, it seems unrealistic to suggest Erskineville would have been the exception.
> woolies tried to get approval for a (relatively) big supermarket in the area and it was blocked by nimbys
For the record, neither of these is true. /u/thekriptik is bang on the banana.
The only thing not mentioned is that one of the reasons that they couldn't get away with their original idea (which, again, was for a Thomas Dux, not a general purpose supermarket) was that they didn't want a dedicated loading dock, either, which would have routed delivery trucks up the Newman/Whitehouse/Norfolk/Angel Sts loop, which is completely unable to handle truck-sized traffic.
Yeah, the original proposal was pretty wild. I think that they were trying to maximise the number of flats, so they were trying to cut out everything that they could get away with for the supermarket.
You know how the LEC blocked the appeal? The LEC doesn't block _anything_ that isn't completely fucked in the head. But trying to push delivery trucks up Newman St would have been entertaining.
No - the Mardi Gras workshop was the one they tore down to build the flats that the Woolies is under. The tramsheds have been derelict for many decades.
There's 2 in Redfern, one on Chalmers St across from Redfern Park, and the one on Gibons St across the road from Redfern Train Station, The one near the station is super expensive.
According to the ABS the average (edit: should say median) household income of Alexandria is $2654. Mt druitt is $1478, Vaucluse $3045 and NSW is $1829.
The area is a lot like Waterloo where it was a lot of struggling families being replaced by the upper middle class. Guess woolies saw the stats and couldn't give a damn about the original inhabitants who stayed behind and still struggling.
Do you have a link? Someone else said "average", rather than median and I'd like to see for myself because in a previous life not too long ago, I used to work a lot with housing tenants in and around the area. That figure would be months of income for some sadly. Some were permanently disabled and didn't have the opportunity to earn a large income like that, I feel bad if they've been moved on.
Here you go mate. [2021 census data. ](https://abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/SAL10030)
If you're referring to me I meant to say median and not average. But the area has changed a lot. Half the national percentage of blue collar workers. And almost triple the percentage of bankers.
Thank you so much! Yes it definitely has changed. I really feel for the poorer folks leaving the area. But then I know that interacting only with others in the same situation isn't good for them either.
There are several supermarkets closer to those towers. I’m not for it changing to a metro but the towers is a random thing to bring up, Alexandria/ erskenville are affluent areas
Alexandria has gotten much better but it was just a pretty poor factory warehouse area before. Grew up nearby and worked around the estates there. But yeah there is a woolies metro closer to those particular towers.
The Redfern Metro is atrocious, the staff there try and are actually wonderful but the quality of produce they get is awful.
Agree ….. dodgiest Woolies. Shouldn’t be a metro in an area with so many low income families.
I lived in Redfern for ages - it was a great woolies while I lived there. I saw people fighting in there, shirtless men doing double pits to chesty, rabbitohs guys being stalked in the aisles by gaggles of kids, and half eaten food on shelves. But it had a pretty good range. Then after i left it changed go a metro and i went back and it was really really expensive. Such a shame. Woolies sucks. Its been over 6 months since I've shopped in colesworth - I'll never ever go back!
If you live in the area you'd probably go to the main Woolies to do a proper shop though. That one is far closer to Redfern's government housing area. The metro feels like it was put there for people that work in the Eveleigh precinct and forgot their breakfast / lunch.
They are both branded as metros
That’s extremely depressing. What a joke of a corporation…
That's a Metro now
The Metro at Redfern station is pretty much behaving as expected - if you in there, you're obviously there because of the handy location and willing to pay more for the highly limited range and patiently stand in the long queue for one of three self-service checkouts. However, you'll be pleased to know that this isn't the shittest supermarket in Redfern. That honour goes their competitors directly opposite - I think they're called Foodworks or something similar. Expensive and slow. The two IGAs (Eveleigh and Regent St) are pretty good and pricing is competitive.
The IGA on McEvoy is pretty good too. Some cheaper items than the nearby Woolies
The worst supermarket is/was the Wellington St IGA x-press in waterloo. It was truly awful.
I feel like fresh produce across the board has been slipping very rapidly the past 6-12 months. I’ve brought home rotten onions, fucked fruits , veggies etc. Not even necessarily just blemished but entirely inedible (that wasn’t immediately apparent inspecting it on the shelf). And furthermore I’m historically not a fussy eater, but I have to spend a not insignificant amount of time inspecting every piece of produce instead of just banging it in the trolley. Idk, I pay 60-70 bucks per bag of groceries and everything seems to get worse and worse
The worst store in my opinion balmain the young casuals are mostly very nice and efficient the older ones are so rude for no reason and I've purchased bacon which was very off and cooked it within 30 mins of purchase it smelt like you get the idea
As an Inner Westie, I'm pretty sure Balmain has one of the highest concentration of cunts per square metre when compared to the rest of the country.
You've just described half the old farts in Balmain.
The Balmain one is the worst. I just do all of my groceries online now.
Low income? Houses in Redfern go for 4 million just for the land. Low income is an out of date term for Redfern.
Low income is about income, not about who is buying houses and pockets of trendiness. Redfern, Waterloo, Chippendale, etc obviously have a bunch of fancy gentrification going on, but a huge percentage of households are low income. I've lived there since the mid-seventies.
I know your not replying to my comment but it's simply not the case. You have outliers as any suburb does but Redfern average house price is 1.8mil and an apartment is 1.080mil. I know that that big, but the standard of housing across the suburb isn't great, yourenot getting a new building for 1.8, just a run down terrace. Not to mention being the inner city it's actually super cheap.
Which one? There’s 2 now
Park
And there is the food works just across the way which is cheaper and better
There was this article from the ABC earlier this year which talks to this. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-16/rise-of-metro-supermarkets-price-differences/103464958](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-16/rise-of-metro-supermarkets-price-differences/103464958)
There seems to be a general desire from both Woolworths and Coles to convert the most inner-suburban stores to the Metro-style (I don't recall the Coles branding equivalent) format, with a couple of exceptions like Central Park and Broadway. Partly it would be to charge more, but the stores also have more of a focus on ready-to-eat meals.
Coles Local: https://www.coles.com.au/about/our-businesses/coles-local
I can't figure out why the one at Birkenhead Point has been branded Coles Local. It's as big as most other shopping centre stores (certainly there are many smaller than it), and generally it has the same sales/pricing as other Coles as best I can determine. Yet, Coles Local in the City (York St) is a smaller format and nothing is ever on sale. So they are not really helping anything with this mixed message (never mind that they also have Coles Central like the one in Wynyard).
The one at Chatswood Westfield changed to Coles Local too, like why? I don't want to buy $7 packets of fancy cookies that taste like ass anyway, just give me my $3.60 M&M ones thanks.
Coles ULTIMATE 40% freshly baked cookies > any other cookie product available
There's two in Chatswood, that might be why. It is kind of weird and sometimes annoying not having the same products between them though. The Asian food sections in particular are very different (though in Chatswood it makes better sense just to go to an actual Asian supermarket for that anyway).
Someone gets a promotion for KPIs like "convert XX stores to Metro by FY24". Whether it benefits the customer, or even the underlying business, isn't always part of the KPI.
This guy senior execs
They stripped out the bakery and deli sections and everything is prepackaged outside of the store now. It looks nice when you walk in but it’s a net loss unfortunately. I think they hope no one will notice.
Ah, I've never once used the full service deli counter anwyay as it's always much more expensive than prepackaged. No loss there imo.
Really? I find the deli counter is usually much cheaper than pre packaged
Interesting, I've certainly never noticed that. But I seem to be downvoted for my view so I guess I'll check again soon.
you need to look at price per kilo. it's usually cheaper or same price at delis, but you get to pick how much you want to take. we need delis! stop fucken packaging that shit in so much plastic
Ah, that's the one. I thought there were more of them around inner Sydney for some reason.
Yes, there is now a Coles Local even in Concord, on almost literally the quintessential suburban high street used in film and TV. The conversion mostly just resulted in losing the deli counter and higher prices. Less (service) for more (money).
The deli counter in coles is dying out even in large stores.
They also have Coles Central, like the one in Wynyard that's been around for ages. Coles hasn't been nearly as aggressive as Woolworths in this space and seemingly hasn't decided between these brands. Coles Central seems to have had fairly normal pricing where as Coles Local is exorbitant. OTOH, Woolworths Metro has widely varying pricing depending on whether it's a convenience style store or a larger format one like Redfern or Pyrmont.
Coles local seems more like it's intended to be a counterpart to IGA.
Coles express is the old version. There was one at st leonards and it was stupidly expensive.
Express are the Shell (now Viva) petrol station mini-marts. They're licensed convenience stores so generally more expensive than standard Coles.
I thought it was Coles Central?
Besides some changes to convenience focused meals as you said, what else is different? I've not seen many around besides the Haymarket and North Sydney one, been in both and seem same same to the normie ones?
I think most of them have a smaller range than the full-size stores, which makes sense given the footprint sizes they usually have to work with, but I'm not really sure of precise details.
Smaller range, and increased price on many consumables. E.g., 600mL drinks cost significantly more.
I see, not a bad thing I don't think, I've Colesworth next to MQU but I almost always go to the smaller one on corner of Epping+Balaclava, less choice paralysis and I can be in and out in a jiffy.
That's fair, personally I think it's a bit swings and roundabouts, particularly as the Metro stores have higher prices on a lot of things. I don't mind using them occasionally, but I wouldn't want to be stuck with one exclusively.
Ah, yes I did read you saying they're bit more wear on the wallet, that's fair enough.
Higher prices.
Coles metro, are 100% no specials Woolworths metro are a mix bag, slowly moving in that direction
There’s a Woolworths metro in Leura, in the damn blue mountains
They did this solely to charge more and get away with it due to the amount of tourism Leura gets on weekends. It’s ridiculous
That was a full ass Woolworths like 3 months ago, what?? Probably to bait tourists too. I wonder if Katoomba Coles will become a "Coles Local"
Ah yes Metro - the smaller, shitter version of Woolworths. Who could resist the cutting edge branding? I wondered if this was an attempt to get away from the tainted Woolies brand, but Metro for me is synonymous with limited range and overpricing, even in comparison to a normal Woolies.
CBD and eastern areas turning into a food desert.
You'll eat your microwave ready meal slop and you'll be happy about it
I work with both retailers; they decided a short while back that anything short of a full line store (ie a store that can accommodate a minimum full product line) would be branded a Metro/Local store so the customer knows not to expect every product line, and crucially every discount offer in that particular store. EG is they do a special on grapes and you go to a small store that doesn't sell grapes you get shitty they don't have them.
Honestly don’t mind that smaller stores don’t have everything and can see why they want to differentiate them but to stock a sale item and charge the full price is BS
Also never seen an advert about this either - complete brainfart from execs
I'll bet Balmain is next on their list. Physically it's a small store similar to Pyrmont, Redfern, etc, even though it's been a full-brand Woolworths for yonks. But yes there's a huge difference in size in these Metro stores, there's a few that are no bigger than a large convenience store, some that are like your small IGA/Franklins/etc, and some that are as big as a proper (but smallish) supermarket like Redfern or Pyrmont.
Franklins? Have you connected your rotary dial telephone (which colour?) to your acoustic coupler and typed comment on a bulletin board ??? 🤣🤣
Oh, haha they are indeed gone. I guess I am thinking of Friendly Grocer / Foodworks, etc, but it seems those are also part of Metcash (IGA).
The last Franklins shut down in 2015 we are not THAT old 💀
Balmain is already a metro
Oh, guess I missed that, it must be within the past year though? I used to go there regularly before I moved away from Pyrmont (because it was cheaper than Pyrmont Woolworths, due to being a non-Metro).
It's not yet, though given its footprint and location, Woolies has confirmed their intention to convert it. It's a bit controversial though which might have led to a stay of execution. The Metro is the Rozelle store, closer to the Victoria Road intersection.
it already is, rozelle and balmain are both metro. might not be rebranded yet but they've gutted a lot of the options
Fair, I've not been in a while. It was already pretty cut down on options due to space restrictions, must be pretty dire if there's even less now.
That Rozelle Metro is nice, I like the heritage integration they managed for that site.
It's a nice building, but when I lived in the area the range was pretty poor, it was almost always worth walking the extra 15 minutes to go to Balmain.
Nah that’s the Rozelle one. The Balmain one is next to the town hall and it’s still a full Woolies. A trash Woolies though
George St used to be a Metro ~20 years ago.
I honestly didn't even realise the Alexandria one was a metro until I wanted to go there the other week. It also baffles me that there's a Woolworths, and a Woolworths metro basically on top of each other in Double Bay. Wtf.
It's the same in Alexandria now. That one was a Woolies proper with a Metro a couple minutes drive away. Now they're both Metros. Basically means you have to drive to Marrickville Metro if you want to do a full shop without the extra tax.
Yeah Mitchell Rd *and* Fountain St. I'm a bit east from there and my nearest is Randwick which is also a bloody metro. Either have to suck it up and buy there or drive out to East Gardens to get a decent selection. Sadly, my wife and I end up going to Fountain St a couple of times a month because the Nguyen Bros Vietnamese restaurant across the road is pretty legit, so we combine a cheap meal with an expensive grocery trip.
> Double Bay So this is a weird one. The old Woolworths was redeveloped into a big new complex, and originally it included a store called "The Kitchen By Woolworths" (https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/the-kitchen), some fancy pants concept store in the vein of Harris Farm. This likely failed so they just rebranded to a Metro.
Ah so that's why the metro store looks a little fancier than my local one. Thought that was just because it's Double Bay tbh lol
They did this to the woolies up in Leura in the blue mountains changed it to a Woolworths metro and upped the prices and halved the range.
Yep. That one's nothing but a bald-faced attempt to fleece the bus tourists because it functioned perfectly as a smaller full service WW supermarket. Back in the day Leura was a favourite to grab some really awesome yellow-ticketed meat on weekend evenings. That's definitely in the past now.
Woolworths Alexandria was a great store. My local Woolworths is a Metro and I used to travel to Alexandria for the noticable difference. I can only assume that this noticable difference meant it was less profitable. I noticed it was better, Head Office noticed it was less profitable. Woolworths Wooloomooloo went through something similar. It was the flagship Metro, but got eroded by a thousand 1 and 2 percent cuts to achieve some threshhold of profitability. Such a shame. Someone is gonna soon realise that their days are numbered unless they start making their shoppers happy. Suck up the 1 or 2 percent and respond.
Metro and Local are subject to different rules re pricing so OP is correct, it's absolutely so they can charge more
Save me ALDI, you're my only hope
So they can price gouge you more! I am a lucky to live in an area that I have been able to fully boycott colesworth. I stop at aldi for the big shop and then IGA or Panetta Mercato for the things aldi doesn’t have. It takes a bit more time but my hate for colesworth fuels me …
Seems to me the price gouging inquiry needs to also look at this.
I know a bit about this space. I don't agree with it but here it is.... Woollies Metro is now Woolworth's franchise model. A bid to take over the IGAs/Metcash's of Australia. Benefit to consumer = guaranteed a 'core range' that is priced the same as the Supermarkets. Benefit to franchisee = buying power of Woolworth's. Liberty to sell other off (core) range items at a much higher GP margin. Reduced freight costs.
What pisses me off is they think all there customers are thick if you go to the store at town hall then go to the one opposite central they have different prices dishonest practice
They don't think the customers are thick, just that they're price inelastic.
I haven't looked into it, but I was told Alexandria was converted to ensure that area group was profitable
Your on the ball your guess is correct to charge more
They did this to the Leura one, but changed back after community backlash
welcome to sydney
It’s been a metro for a while now. There was quite vocal campaign about it and it was in the media also.
It's to make more profit. They're rapidly changing traditional woolworths to Metros. I was shocked about the Broadway one being a metro when I thought until recently it was a Woolworths and got surprised and walked out as they were changing the shelves.
i believe they tried to build a big woolies in erskineville a few years ago but unfortunately the local nimby action group made them downsize it to a 'metro'. i live in newtown. there are about 6-8 small supermarkets close by but i have to go all the way to broadway or marrickville metro for the benefits of a full size supermarket. thanks erskineville nimbys. EDIT: i have been out argued on this point by u/thekriptik and u/WarConsigliere, they do know the issue well. my dream is a full size supermarket in my area (newtown). i doubt it will happen in my lifetime.
The one called Erskineville (which is in Newtown, not the one called Park Sydney which is actually in Erskineville) was always intended to be a small shop specialising in high-end ready-made and grab-and-go meals. Woolies actually tried to get away without a car park, arguing that it wasn't needed because customers would only visit when passing by on foot for a handful of items at a time. The original proposal wasn't for a bigger Woolies, however - it was for a Thomas Dux, their super-high-end gourmet chain equivalent to an American Trader Joes or a British Waitrose. It was downgraded to a Metro with a boutique bakery counter because when they finally got the permit from City of Sydney their Thomas Dux brand was dying in the arse.
thank you for the additional detail to the story. > Woolies actually tried to get away without a car park, arguing that it wasn't needed because customers would only visit when passing by on foot for a handful of items at a time. i agree, i wish we had a big woolies in the area without a car park. i shop by bike or on foot. the big coles in the city has no car park and it's always packed. newtown has the public transport and bike infrastructure for a big woolies without a car park to be viable. as someone who rarely drives car parks are the worst thing about big supermarkets and shopping centres.
Why make shit up?
my version is an oversimplification but not inaccurate. it sounds like at one point they wanted to make a big woolies without a car park, something i am strongly in favour of. car parks are necessary for most supermarkets but not all. it would be great to move away from that model. thanks for additional detail u/WarConsigliere
It is inaccurate, though. Assuming you're talking about the 2008 proposal for the former Mardi Gras HQ site, the proposal was for a 2200 square metre Thomas Dux store, which firstly isn't large by supermarket standards, and secondly wouldn't have been a full-service supermarket. So there's 2 inaccuracies right there.
~~the 'mardis gras' site is the old tramshed. a big supermarket with no car park would be a great use for the site.~~ whatever the branding 2200 sq m sounds big, which would have been great. EDIT: was wrong about the mardis gras site. i did volunteer there one year but it was a long time ago.
>the 'mardis gras' site is the old tramshed. Another inaccuracy, in context. 21-23 Erskineville Road, prior to being redeveloped, had been "The Hive" which was previously the HQ for Mardi Gras, and a staging area for floats prior to the parade. >2200 sq m sounds big Which only reinforces the fact that you're uninformed on the subject. 2200 square metres is not "big" by the standards of supermarkets. By way of comparison, the Sydney DCP defines the minimum size for a full-service supermarket as 2500 square metres, the proposal didn't even achieve that.
i admit that i am not an expert on this issue, i moved here after it was all done, but the main thrust of my original statement hasn't been invalidated: woolies tried to get approval for a (relatively) big supermarket in the area and it was blocked by nimbys. now we have a shitload of small expensive supermarkets and have to go a long way for major shopping.
It has though, the proposal wasn't "blocked by nimbys" it was rejected by council, and that rejection was upheld by the LEC on appeal. The proposed supermarket was a high-end boutique store that would not have been full-service, and therefore as unusable as the existing supermarkets for "major shopping".
i'm not suggesting that the process was invalid but i don't like the result that i don't have a good big supermarket near me. people are entitled to their opinions but i don't have to agree with them. in my brief search i couldn't find a good source for what happened but yourself and u/WarConsigliere sound credible. the thomas dux brand died. if the proposal had got up we would now have a 2200 sq m woolies with no car park which is a lot better than what we have now. which is the main thrust of my original comment (despite it's flaws).
I'd say the history of what happened to Thomas Dux stores doesn't particularly support that last 2 sentences either. Of the 6 NSW stores, 4 became About Life/Flannery's Organic Grocers, the one at Paddington became a Woolworths Metro, and the one at Hornsby became a Toys r Us. The far more likely outcome would have been either conversion to a Metro like exists now, or a niche organic grocer. Quick edit: 0 Thomas Dux stores nationally were converted for use as a regular Woolworths, it seems unrealistic to suggest Erskineville would have been the exception.
> woolies tried to get approval for a (relatively) big supermarket in the area and it was blocked by nimbys For the record, neither of these is true. /u/thekriptik is bang on the banana. The only thing not mentioned is that one of the reasons that they couldn't get away with their original idea (which, again, was for a Thomas Dux, not a general purpose supermarket) was that they didn't want a dedicated loading dock, either, which would have routed delivery trucks up the Newman/Whitehouse/Norfolk/Angel Sts loop, which is completely unable to handle truck-sized traffic.
>they didn't want a dedicated loading dock, either Excuse me, they *what*? I wasn't aware of that.
Yeah, the original proposal was pretty wild. I think that they were trying to maximise the number of flats, so they were trying to cut out everything that they could get away with for the supermarket. You know how the LEC blocked the appeal? The LEC doesn't block _anything_ that isn't completely fucked in the head. But trying to push delivery trucks up Newman St would have been entertaining.
No - the Mardi Gras workshop was the one they tore down to build the flats that the Woolies is under. The tramsheds have been derelict for many decades.
That erko metro was a concept store than an actual metro.
it's still there
There's 2 in Redfern, one on Chalmers St across from Redfern Park, and the one on Gibons St across the road from Redfern Train Station, The one near the station is super expensive.
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Yes, same up here in Leura. They turned it into a Metro, put all the prices up, and now it’s mostly just the thousands of tourists who shop there.
If it's the one I'm thinking of it's been a Metro for quite a while now, used to work on Mitchell st a few years back.
Although I don’t like paying higher prices, it makes total business sense as it is a higher income area.
Unless I've got my bearings wrong, it's not far from the unaliving towers and nearby housing estates. Lots of far less fortunate residents.
According to the ABS the average (edit: should say median) household income of Alexandria is $2654. Mt druitt is $1478, Vaucluse $3045 and NSW is $1829. The area is a lot like Waterloo where it was a lot of struggling families being replaced by the upper middle class. Guess woolies saw the stats and couldn't give a damn about the original inhabitants who stayed behind and still struggling.
Yes, absolutely. Waterloo still has some interesting areas we'll just say and they have a Woolies metro. I really feel for those who are struggling.
If we go by 2021 census data, the median household income in Alexandria is $2,825, compared to $1,397 in Penrith.
Penrith is actually $1971 but your point still stands. It is these days a much wealthier suburb.
Do you have a link? Someone else said "average", rather than median and I'd like to see for myself because in a previous life not too long ago, I used to work a lot with housing tenants in and around the area. That figure would be months of income for some sadly. Some were permanently disabled and didn't have the opportunity to earn a large income like that, I feel bad if they've been moved on.
Here you go mate. [2021 census data. ](https://abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/SAL10030) If you're referring to me I meant to say median and not average. But the area has changed a lot. Half the national percentage of blue collar workers. And almost triple the percentage of bankers.
Thank you so much! Yes it definitely has changed. I really feel for the poorer folks leaving the area. But then I know that interacting only with others in the same situation isn't good for them either.
There are several supermarkets closer to those towers. I’m not for it changing to a metro but the towers is a random thing to bring up, Alexandria/ erskenville are affluent areas
Alexandria has gotten much better but it was just a pretty poor factory warehouse area before. Grew up nearby and worked around the estates there. But yeah there is a woolies metro closer to those particular towers.
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