Farewell SUPA IGA Dianella

The only independent supermarket within 5 kilometres of my house with reasonable prices and a wide variety of stock closed at 6pm tonight: SUPA IGA Dianella. All the other independents in my area of Perth either had the prices or the variety but not both.

SUPA IGA Dianella was quite eclectic with a decent international section and I am sad to see it go. Even sadder is that it is being replaced with another generic Coles supermarket.

A new Coles supermarket is just what I wanted. If I were to consider shopping at Coles and the closest Coles Inglewood store didn’t have what I required then I wouldn’t bother visiting the Coles in Maylands or the Coles in Morley or the soon to be Coles in Dianella because they would not have it either.

Coles (like Woolworths) is all about maximising profit per centimetre of shelving space. Considerations like supplier sustainability, sourcing locally and providing real choice within product segments have fallen by the wayside.

The oligopoly powers that the two major supermarket chains have in Australia are not good for Australian growers, not good for Australian suppliers and not good for Australian consumers. If the major supermarket chains were broken up, Australia would be a better place.