In the last couple of weeks, life-altering change has come to my neighbourhood. A supermarket has finally opened on the eastern side of the Parramatta CBD.
It occupies the base of the Meriton apartment complex at 100 George Street, adding to an increasingly dense local footprint that includes apartments on either side of the river, the redeveloped Arthur Phillip High School and Powerhouse Parramatta construction site. The area will likely have a Metro train station within a decade.
None of this was here when I arrived in Parramatta seven years ago. At night and on weekends, the streets emptied out when the office workers went home. Now niche coffee shops, gyms, optometrists and dentists have moved in, while a couple of family-run convenience stores have sadly shuffled out. A new city is unfolding before our very eyes.
The new store in my neighbourhood is a Woolworths Metro, which means it doesn’t offer a full supermarket selection. The ethos is more ‘grab and go’, than settle in with your trolley to do the weekly shop. Woolworths style themselves as the ‘Fresh Food People’. But if this store is any guide, there is more emphasis on ready-made meals than people. These days, the spinach comes in bags, and the zucchini pre-sliced. No seafood deli or onsite bakery are in evidence. Just a smattering of staff and the checkouts are exclusively self-service. ,
Basically, it’s a glorified convenience store. But the setup works for the neighbourhood’s largely young, inner-city clientele. You can’t beat the ease of having a familiar supermarket chain open until 10pm that is two minutes away. It sure beats having to negotiate the labyrinth carpark of a big shopping centre.
Across Sydney, the march of the miniature supermarket is on – with other models including Coles Local and Aldi corner stores. In some suburbs, these pop ups can be as little as 1-2 kilometres apart. It is a positive development where new retail comes to an area that is underserviced, perhaps fitting seamlessly into a hub such as a train station or concentration of apartments.
However, it is proving more controversial in places like Balmain and Alexandria where full-sized supermarkets are being downgraded. Here, the local catchment includes a mix of new and established families, as well as elderly residents, most of whom still hunger for the personalised attention of a full-service store.
Where the change is sprung without consultation, it is being received cynically as the supermarket duopoly stomping on local communities – in the same way as bank branches and post offices slowly withdraw.
Many residents also fear it provides cover to raise prices in a cost-of-living crisis. A recent investigation by Channel Nine’s ‘A Current Affair’ measured Woolworths Metro prices as $30 higher than full-size stores over a basket of ten goods.
The big supermarket chains may claim the cost of running a smaller store is higher, but they also know they can charge a premium for convenience.
Across the fast-growing Parramatta region, it seems clear we will need more supermarkets than less, with the precise model depending on the location. For example, the growing high-rise population around Carlingford station currently has no neighbourhood option other than a couple of local servos. During the pandemic, Telopea was left without a supermarket after the IGA on Evans Road closed down. The new Sanfa Asian grocery store has been a godsend for residents, regardless of their cultural background.
Meanwhile, over at the intersection of Windsor Road and James Ruse Drive where Northmead meets North Parramatta, a new Woolworths will open next year with 3,800 square metres of retail space. This will help local residents; however, the supermarket is also strategically positioned to allow people working in the city to stop in their cars on the way home to the west.
In the era of ubiquitous technology, we can order groceries from our sofa with a simple voice command or click of our phone. But the ongoing popularity of supermarkets large and small – not to mention boutique shopping strips – shows we continue to prize the feeling of fresh produce in our fingers – or being able to bump into a neighbour and have a chat.
Like it or not, the Woolworths Metro is the Wal-Mart of the 21st century – testament to Parramatta’s changing landscape and a sign of the times.
Alan is a journalist and communications specialist. He writes a weekly column for Parra News.