‘We’ll even carry them out to your car’: New IGA to provide traditional customer service
“We won’t make you scan your own groceries here”: Tasmania’s newest and possibly largest IGA serves traditional customer service experience. Here’s an inside look >>
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When Todd Johnston moved to Brighton to get out of the city 20 years ago he never expected to see so much growth in the suburb.
“The town is crying out for development with all the new housing,” Mr Johnston IGA Tasmania area manager said.
The three checkout Brighton IGA will close on Thursday night at 7pm for the last time to make way for the opening of the largest IGA in the state on Friday morning.
Customer service manager Rachel Garwood was anticipating a big adjustment to the new store which has 10 check-outs.
Store manager Shannon Ling said she is going from managing around 40 staff at the old store to more than 100, including department managers for the first time.
The bright and modern store at 162 Brighton Road features modern amenities and the 84 car parks are built slightly wider for ease of access.
She said Brighton is growing, and with a new school set to open next year it was the perfect time to say goodbye to the old.
IGA Tasmania CEO Drew Freeman said they were looking forward to opening the doors on Friday to offer traditional customer service as opposed to the major supermarkets.
“We won’t make you scan your own groceries here, we’ll scan them for you and we’ll even carry them out to your car,” he said.
Mr Freeman said the benefit of being independent retailers was being able to tailor the shopping experience to offer what the locals want.
Mr Freeman estimated the $13 million development project injected $20 million, directly and indirectly into the Tasmanian economy, and they tried to keep contractors and suppliers local where possible.
“Being Tassie owned and operated helps with that, you are just connected to Tassie- we are all Tassie people,” he said.
The IGA Brighton development will be home to a Cellarbrations, Banjos and a Subway which will open at a later date.
Brighton Mayor Leigh Gray said the development is reflective of the growth his community is seeing.
A “town square” with lawn areas, picnic tables, water features and native plants is being built out the front of the new development after IGA sold a small plot of land to the council for $1.
“It shows the cooperative arrangement that IGA and the council had and it’s a fantastic outcome for our municipality,” Mr Gray said.
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