2000 rush for jobs at Sandy Bay Hill Street grocer

Hill Street has given us an exclusive look inside their newest and biggest store - which 2000 people have applied to work at. Watch the full video tour.

EAGER locals have already swamped Hobart’s newest and biggest Hill Street store – even before it opens its doors.

The independent grocery store at Sandy Bay, which is days away from opening, has been flooded with applications from 2000 job seekers.

Director Nick Nikitaras said demand had been “massive” and the 64 jobs on offer had all filled quickly.

He said a lot of university students had applied, and many people who had moved to Tasmania on visas who were looking for employment.

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The new staff members have been undergoing training in recent weeks in preparation for the opening on Wednesday October 9.

Nick Nikitaras director of Hill Street Grocer. The new Hill Street Grocer at Sandy Bay is set open its doors in the coming week. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

The Churchill Ave store is the tenth in the chain, and the seventh for Hobart.

At about 700 square metres, it is the biggest of the Greater Hobart stores and the third largest across the state after Longford and Devonport.

“It’s not the biggest in the state but quite possibly the best,” Mr Nikitaras said.

He said the size was still relatively small by supermarket standards, but part of the Hill Street ethos was to allow people to get around a smaller footprint faster.

“Shoppers don’t want to spend hours and hours… they don’t want to walk past 25m of different kinds of tuna. They want to get in and out as quickly as possible.”

He said part of the success of the Hill Street model was that it suited people’s lifestyles to use the stores as their pantry, which they dipped into regularly.

“Once upon a time people went to the supermarket once a week, but now they use us more like a pantry which they pop into for more spontaneous living.”

Sam Goldsmith second in charge of the new store, Nick Nikitaras Director of Hill Street Grocer, Euan Wiseman store manager of the news store. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

The store has also taken its waste-minimisation ethos up a level, with more bulk goods in large vats to encourage people to bring their own containers. As well as the usual dried foods in dispensers, the store also has bulk laundry detergents, vinegar and oils.

“We are evolving with people, and we really want to encourage people to bring their own containers to this store,” Mr Nikitaras said.

The new store has been built on the site of the old UniPrint building, which was demolished to make way for the work.

The university closed its in-house printing operation in 2017, which printed exams and other materials, when the university’s print work was outsourced.

The new development will also include a medical centre and pharmacy upstairs, as well as a café next to the grocer on ground level.

Like the other Hill Street stores, the interior of the new store has a Scandi style with vertical wood panelling and neutral tones.

Architect Maria Gigney, from MGArchitecture.Interiors, said the new store should be the most functional to date.

“The style is Scandinavian, with some 1950s elements, and a more European feel,” she said.

Mr Nikitaras said they went to a lot of effort with the interior style to make the shopping experience pleasurable.

“We want customers to feel special when they come into our stores we don’t want shopping to be a weekly drudgery,” he said