Islington | Developments & News

[Brucetiki]

Maccas open. Coles petrol will open next month I'm told.

The centre will be open at the end of May, according to one of the retailers who will be there.

Costco works apparently about to commence.

The Shell/Coles express has been open for a couple of weeks.

[neoballmon]

Has the coles opened now? Because it's listed in the computers at work with a store number and further details.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk

[Bacon]

Yes

[neoballmon]

Went there yesterday. The coles is huge, and has so many more lines that my store doesn't have. Their party goods, baby and 'cook and dine' sections look like they're out of a kmart store and the rest is just like a normal store, only bigger. Was expecting a little more innovation on this one but I guess not.
The Kmart was different in that it had all the checkouts in the middle of the store, and not at the front.

The Centre as a whole looked nice and modern, the majority of the tennancies were filled, with most vacant stores being leased out with coming soon signage.
Being opening day, there were a number of company mascots walking around the Centre including the cheap as chips Chip, and a character that looked like it came from ABC Kids (whom I can't identify).

There was also a small food court at the Kmart end, which seemed to be quite busy (I was there around 3pm), and the car park was really full, which surprises me since I've heard almost nothing about it opening yesterday except one single radio ad. I guess local promotion was much heavier. I did notice a giant billboard at the end of Cavan Road saying it's open but that's all.

[rev]

I popped in around lunch time today to have a look, and it was absolute chaos traffic wise. The car park was full. Not a single free car park.
There is only one entrance/exit to Churchill road.
Cars were banked up throughout the entire car park, it's entire length, waiting to get out. It took me half an hour to get out of the car park and onto Churchill Rd. And there was just as many cars coming in.

And that's without Costco yet.
Obviously it wont be that busy all the time, it's just opened so there's a big rush to go there.
But either they need to do something about the traffic light sequence and times, or add another one or two exit's only.

Near Wok in a Box, above the entrance they seem to have used old rail sleepers. Looked pretty neat and a nice touch given the sites history.

[how good is he]

I remember when I went to Costco in Melbourne for my first and only time, it was a Saturday morning and cars were banked up for 4-5kms!! It took ages just to get in and then the Carpark was totally full anyway, total chaos!! I have a feeling they may have severely underestimated the demand and car parking needs when that does open in Adelaide also.

[crawf]

Meanwhile there is a perfectly good railway line at the back of the complex...

[pushbutton]

Not worth saying much but here's my observations from opening day, in no particular order:
- Opening day at opening time. Mall entry nearest Coles was not open as window cleaners were there. I had to enter through a small side door. What a grand opening! Coles actually opened a bit earlier than advertised, but again, no fanfare, no ribbon cutting, no free gifts or samples or vouchers (well, unless you count someone making a very half-hearted and embarrassing attempt to offer me a small bit of very cheap Coles cake as I was leaving). Cleaners using heavy duty floor scrubbing machines in the mall after opening time. Also most speciality stores not yet open. I went back about 6pm and Cheap as Chips had no customers in at all. Staff were so bored one of them was actually spruiking for business, shouting into the mall "come and shop at Cheap as Chips. There's lots of great bargains!"
- Centre flooring is comprised of numerous different types of tiles, non of which are very nice. I can only suppose they bought cheap end of lines from tile discounters?
- Coles signage is white lettering on red background. I prefer the red lettering on no background. This just looks tacky and obtrusive.
- Coles is not all that big. I was expecting it to be considerably bigger, especially as they advertise it as Adelaides biggest supermarket. It's not. Try Foodland Munno Para for a start.
- Coles has large card and gift section. So does Kmart just a bit further down the mall.
- Coles has large babywear department. So does Kmart just a bit further down the mall.
- Coles has decent size fashion department. So does Kmart just a bit further down the mall.
(They should have either just let Kmart take care of fashion and gifts and cards and babywear, and use the space in Coles for a better range of groceries and fresh produce (which are quite limited), OR had one big Coles store taking up the space that Coles and Kmart together do).
- I like the deli counter in some recently refurbished / new Coles stores, such as as West Lakes and St Clair. They're fresh, modern, clean and aesthetically pleasing. However the deli counter at Churchill Centre has old fashioned tiles (and not in a good way) and sections with fake bricks. A big step backwards in my opinion.
- There are bird sounds above the "mix" fashion department. 10/10 for originality, but it just doesn't seem right for a modern supermarket at all.
- Kmart has a few self serve checkouts at the front, and more in the middle (yes, the MIDDLE) of the store!!! What the **** were they thinking?!?!??!) I can guarantee that within 6 months (as soon as they see the first stocktake results) those checkouts in the middle will be gone faster than you can decide not to bother shopping there unless you're a shoplifter.

Given all the hype I've been hearing about this Coles store for the last year or more, I was really expecting it to be something special (and certainly MUCH bigger). Had it been, I would have shopped there semi-regularly even though it's by no means my closest supermarket, or even my closest Coles. As it is, I will not be shopping there, ever.

On the positive side, the roof is significantly higher than in a typical Coles, which means it looks ok without a ceiling, unlike Rundle Place and St Clair where it looks like they just couldn't be bothered / were too cheap to put ceilings in, and it's just ugly.

Overall though, very disappointing!

[mt2000]

Went on Google to search and found this site lol.

I popped in around lunch time today to have a look, and it was absolute chaos traffic wise. The car park was full. Not a single free car park.
.

Yeah the place was packed alright. You realise there heaps of car park space on the Southern Entrance where the Post Office located right? You can't miss it, a big red Aust Post at the front. Don't know why people always park right at the front when driving in and you know it is always full.

[how good is he]

Crawf makes a good point.. Does anyone know nearest useable station and why not have a train station built here instead? They did it at StClair and created it in a far more useable area. Also the other massive vacant land on Churchill Rd (opposite steep ham Hotel) was proposed to have a big major residential&commercial development (Palm village I think) anyone know whatever happened to propsal and who owns the land now?

[rev]

Crawf makes a good point.. Does anyone know nearest useable station and why not have a train station built here instead? They did it at StClair and created it in a far more useable area. Also the other massive vacant land on Churchill Rd (opposite steep ham Hotel) was proposed to have a big major residential&commercial development (Palm village I think) anyone know whatever happened to propsal and who owns the land now?

There's two nearby stops..Kilburn and Islington.

@mt2000..I didn't spend a whole lot of time driving around the car park..was problematic to get in, and getting out looked like a major head f***, so I got out as quick as I could. Didn't even go inside the center.

[Pistol]

I went into this new shopping centre only to use the $10 discount that was in the paper for Coles (Don't know how you missed it Pushbutton...).
Quite a nice little centre.
No problems with parking as I went passed the main entrance and entered at the other secondary entrance.
Was pretty funny watching the frustration boil over on a lot of people as they waited in long queues to get in.
I just drove past them.
When I exited, did the same, used the secondary exit and did a quick u-turn - felt like waving at all the people waiting at the stop light.

But yeah agree that this centre will be absolutely crazy when Costco opens.

In regards to Coles, I will stick with Coles Prospect thanks.

[pushbutton]

I went into this new shopping centre only to use the $10 discount that was in the paper for Coles (Don't know how you missed it Pushbutton...).
Quite a nice little centre.
No problems with parking as I went passed the main entrance and entered at the other secondary entrance.
Was pretty funny watching the frustration boil over on a lot of people as they waited in long queues to get in.
I just drove past them.
When I exited, did the same, used the secondary exit and did a quick u-turn - felt like waving at all the people waiting at the stop light.

But yeah agree that this centre will be absolutely crazy when Costco opens.

In regards to Coles, I will stick with Coles Prospect thanks.

Yes most people are incredibly stupid when it comes to parking, but the same applies to when it comes to driving in general. Every single time I drive anywhere I see people doing unbelievably stupid and dangerous things, right in front of me. Maybe more rigid driving tests are the answer?

I've got a camera in my car now so if anyone crosses the line (so to speak) I can provide the footage to police. I didn't get the camera to be some sort of driving vigilante, I got it because I had received 2 completely unfair red light camera fines and wanted to be able to prove my innocence if it happened again. The ability to get some sort of justice when I see lunatic drivers is just a side benefit of it!

[neoballmon]

Yes most people are incredibly stupid when it comes to parking

I work at a Coles store that's lost it's trolley contractors, and I am now one of the few that collect them. God, I can back this quote up with so many stories. At least one idiot per day tries to get in front of the person pushing 10+ trolleys with NO BRAKES, because they don't know where they're going, or are in such a rush. I give way where appropriate, but once I start crossing a more 'major' stretch of the road, I CAN'T stop. (I could rant for hours about this). And while in a car, I will always give way to the collectors.

Churchill has contractors I noticed, but these guys must be going through hell trying to deal with the traffic at the front of the car park and the amount of trolleys they'd be dealing with on an hourly basis..

[pushbutton]

Trolley collecting has never been a job I would want, and the problem you have outlined is probably the number one reason why. Worst thing is that if trolleys actually damaged someones car it would be the trolley collector that gets the blame, even if it's the driver who was really at fault.