‘You have to hunt’: Finding the new designer Woolies tote is a cat-and-mouse game

It took Darlinghurst resident Sam Papadopoulos three attempts before he was able to track down the coveted green Woolworths shopping tote designed by British luxury fashion designer Anya Hindmarch.

Papadopoulos checked two stores closer to home first – Town Hall and then Double Bay – before he caught the metro to Crows Nest and eventually found the tote tucked away in a cardboard box at an express checkout counter.

“If you want to get something, you have to hunt around a bit,” Papadopoulos says.

Sam Papadopoulos visited three stores before locating a coveted Anya Hindmarch tote bag at Crows Nest Woolworths.Credit: Sam Mooy

By mid-morning Wednesday, the Neutral Bay Woolworths had sold out of the bags, while the nearby Crows Nest store had a handful left. It is already reselling for up to three times the original price online.

The Woolworths tote is the 20th edition of the Universal Bag, which sports the same design in different colours for different supermarkets. They have been sold in Britain’s Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose, as well as in grocery chains across Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.

Hindmarch’s bags typically retail for thousands of dollars, with the likes of Princess Catherine and Kendall Jenner among her devotees. With its focus on sustainability – it is made of fully recyclable materials – the Universal Bag marries style and function for the princely sum of $20.

The environmentally friendly totes have been credited with saving more than 230 tonnes of plastic from landfill.

Papadopoulos said he preferred the quality, size and comfortable straps of the Universal Bag over Woolworths’ current line-up of 99¢ reusable bags.

“It’s so much better made, it’s fully lined as well.”

A long-time fan of Hindmarch, Papadopoulos, who works in the fashion industry, already owns a Japanese edition of the tote (grey and red), purchased on holiday a few years back.

“I love Anya Hindmarch. It’s the reason why I bought the [Japanese] one,” he says.

Woolworths’ newly launched Universal Bag is already out of stock at multiple stores.Credit: Sam Mooy

“It’s a lot of fun as a brand. It’s the kind of thing that makes for a fun buy when you want to just spend $20 and feel good.

“These little things we can be doing to make things better are worthwhile. It’s a very small change, but it’s a huge impact if we all do it together.”

Minami H, who declined to provide her last name, is another avid fan of Hindmarch’s luxury products and was wearing a Hindmarch-designed grey leather crossbody bag when she was out shopping for the newly released tote after hearing about it through Instagram.

“We’ve never had it in Australia. It’s nice to get involved, even this far away from the rest of the world,” she says.

Minami also owns the popular American grocery chain Trader Joe’s version of the tote bag, which has since gone viral for reselling for more than $US100.

“I guess I am a bit of a collector.”

Woolworths declined to comment on the number of bags stocked or sold.

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