New Glen Osmond Road Market upping the cool, hipster stakes against popular Frewville Foodland
THERE’S a battle going on in grocery aisles across Adelaide’s east to win over hip, health-conscious shoppers — and one redeveloped supermarket’s just raised the stakes to a whole new level of cool.
- Adelaide’s first certified organic farmers’ market moves east
- Supermarket introduces live music in fruit and veg section
A REDEVELOPED supermarket in Adelaide’s east is upping the cool stakes in a bid to compete for business in the health-conscious but time poor south-eastern suburbs.
A full one-third of the shelf space at Glenunga’s renamed Glen Osmond Road Market — previously Glenunga IGA — is now dedicated to gluten-free, organic and vegetarian or vegan food.
Reclaimed timber has been as a backdrop to the vertical garden and the produce section includes items like banana leaves, long melons and yam beans.
Wallpaper has been specially printed in a red-brick design.
There are living walls.
The renovations have been done in a bid to compete with the nearby Frewville Foodland, which features a massive organic produce section, a vertical garden and cashiers who wear cardigans.
It was named IGA National Supermarket of the Year earlier this month.
The owner of Glen Osmond Road Market, Drake Supermarkets assistant general manager John-Paul Drake, said he wanted to create a point of difference between the two supermarkets by focusing on “health and wellbeing” but also ready-to-eat meals.
It includes options such as barbecue chicken scaloppine with quinoa and asparagus and blueberry pancakes with honey ricotta.
“It’s a huge growing trend of people being more health-conscious,” Mr Drake said.
“They’re worried about what they eat and where their food comes from.”
He admits there’s a possibility some regular customers might be turned off by higher prices on organic products but in some cases they were cheaper than conventionally-grown produce.
A similar concept in Para Hills called the Bridge Road Market had to be wound back after customers complained about the smaller range of food such as chips and confectionery.
“We think Glen Osmond and Glenunga is a better market,” Mr Drake said.
“We’re concentrating on the fresh solutions — you can literally get groceries from everywhere.”
Area manager Graham Bigland said the response from customers during the renovations had been positive.
“A lot of people don’t like change but there has been a lot of people coming in to see what we’re doing,” Mr Bigland said.
“It’s really about the staff talking it up about what we’re trying to achieve in health and wellbeing and ready-to-eat convenience.”
Final touches this week included a coffee cart — organic and free-trade coffee only — and inviting food trucks to sell breakfast outside the store on weekends.
The store officially launches this Tuesday.