Many people choose the two giants — Coles and Woolworths — for shopping, despite significant criticism. Reasons may include: they are everywhere; they have everything; they have more self check-out spots; and they have Flybuys.
For whatever reason, they have become the default choice for the majority of Australian shoppers. While simple, this overlooks the variety of independent grocery options in Australia.
My friend and I explored four independent supermarkets. We revisited our favourites: Thai Kee (IGA) on the first floor of Market City and Tong Li Supermarket Chinatown. We also tried two places we’d never been before: Komart at North Strathfield and Harris Farm Broadway. We compared commodities in terms of diversity, quality, and price.
Thai Kee have all the essential vegetables that Asians often use to cook and a huge range of food and drinks from various Asian countries.
Just have a peek at the sign above their Aisle seven: Chinese sauce, pickle, chilli condiments, bean curd, fish sauce, seasoning stock, flour, nuts, herbal soup, can meat, canned food, hot pot sauce, dried vegetables, bean curd, spice, bean, Chinese sausage, and dried seafood. Enjoy chips in the flavour of garlic oyster, roasted cumin lamb skewer, fried crab, braised pork ball, and more!
Tong Li has many foods from China. The flavours of ice cream in the two giant’s stock are mainly chocolate, caramel, and vanilla. But in Tong Li, you can get ice creams and bars in flavours of pearl milk tea, taro milk, green tea, Matcha, almond tofu, red bean, brown sugar, caramel pudding, and more. When I went there, they also had special offers: 18 ice cream items around 300-400g have the same price of $9.99, and $8.99 is the price of nine different bundles of four to five ice bars.
At Komart, you can choose from many Korean branded foods, such as salted and frozen seafood, soybean paste, kimchi, and neatly packed meat perfect for Korean barbecue. I found my mum’s favourite Korean Honey Citron Tea there which I’ve never seen in the other supermarkets in Australia before. I bought it at a special price: only $12.98 each, for a 1kg can. I also saw Ring Pop, which reminded me how cool it was to wear a “diamond ring candy” in my primary school.
In Harris Market, we were impressed by how the vegetables are neatly showcased in a way that we have never seen in the other supermarkets. I never knew that one day I would describe a vegetable section in a supermarket as “visually stunning”. Some milk bottles are lying on a bed made of ice — they are full-cream milk from New South Wales farms, according to the sign above them introducing the farmer, nutritional information, and tasting notes. Harris Farm also sells its own yoghurt and nuts.
After taking a look around, my friend and I agreed that when stepping into Broadway shopping centre, while we often directly go to the first supermarket that comes into our sight, which is Coles, that would miss very unique opportunities everywhere else
Comparing the same product for price, the giants don’t always win. Coles spring onion is $2.80 for each bundle, in Woolworths, it’s $2.80, while in Komart it’s $1.40, and Thai Kee offers chives bundles for $0.99 each. A 1kg carrot bag in Harris Farm only costs $0.99 each for their mid-week super special price, while currently in Coles it’s $2.40, and in Woolworths, it’s $2.10. My friend told me even if it’s on special offer, it will be around $1.50, and she never saw the price drop to $0.99.
I appreciate that independent supermarkets offer single bottles of drinks at a reasonable price. For example, when I look up Bundaberg drinks in Woolworths and Coles apps, they only offer packs of 4 bottles and more. For many of us international students who live by ourselves, the bundles are cheaper but too heavier to carry, especially when we would like to buy multiple flavours. Though we can use the delivery services, it is challenging to place them in the limited place of a fridge that is often shared with others. In Tong Li, I can buy Bundaberg drinks in almost all their flavours for $2.49 each.
I also would like to thank the smaller independent supermarkets. Their staff are often more approachable to me. Once, I went to a little shop close to my place and told the staff that today I couldn’t find my favourite mango flavour drink. Next time I saw the same staff, she told me, “Your mango flavour is back”. I’ve seen my favourite milk drink only available in another independent supermarket. Once I couldn’t find it and asked the owner, he said there’s none left. To my surprise, he added, “I like it too. I like their peach flavour. Don’t worry, once it’s available, I’ll restock as soon as possible.”
I’ll be back to add my favourite drink to the cart.
