COM: Harbourtown Stage 3 Expansion

[Düsseldorfer]

Apparently this Woolies will be open 24/7.

lol doubt anyone will use it, it's such a waste cause the Rundle Mall woolies would probably have more luck being open 24/7

[pushbutton]

Apparently this Woolies will be open 24/7.

It would be a first for SA if it was. Can't see them doing that for long. It will be totally dead after 9pm.

[AtD]

It would be a first for SA if it was.

I thought there were a few 24 hour major supermarkets in the iron triangle?

[crawf]

Apparently this Woolies will be open 24/7.

I read somewhere that it will be trading from the usual 6am-9pm Monday-Friday, 6am-5pm Saturday and 11am-5pm Sunday.

I highly doubt they would make this supermarket 24/7

[Norman]

Just what I heard from an insider.

It would make sense, as this is on federal land, not state land.

[pushbutton]

I just had a look at the expansion.

Nothing too exciting really. Most of it looks just like the previously built parts (as you'd expect) but I'm very disappointed with the bits of the mall that are undercover. Very shabby looking indeed unfortunately.

The new Woolworths is ok, slightly different than most Woolworths stores in SA, and not just because it's got the new logo. The floor sort of looks like laminated pine floorboards, which is not the same as in even the recently refurbished stores such as West Lakes, where they have brown vinyl tiles. Also the Harbourtown store doesn't have the big silver signs on the walls for the fresh food departments like the other refurbished stores do, but instead has signs around the perimeter walls displaying short messages about, err, well I forgot so they obviously weren't very interesting!

The layout is also a bit different than any other SA supermarket I have seen.

Worth a look for those who might be interested, but at the end of the day it's just another Woolworths really and nothing spectacular (not that I was expecting it to be).

[peas_and_corn]

I think the Woolies went the floorboards because Coles are doing that with their expansions (see Dernancourt expansion, for example)

[pushbutton]

I would be very disappointed if they've done it just to make their store look more like a Coles store!

It's not as if it looks particularly good!

You would think once they had developed a "look" they would at least stick with it until all their stores were refurbished the same way and then leave them alone for a few years before they start playing about with another different style!

[peas_and_corn]

IMO the Dernancourt store looks really nice, and would look great once it's done and dusted. The thought that either Coles or Woolies would stick to one look makes me

[pushbutton]

Oh. Well fair enough then but that is the way most retailers around the world operate!

[JamesXander]

I agree mono. I haven't found shops at Harbourtown to be significantly cheaper than anywhere else. I was just thinking a similar thing today when I went to have a look and saw they're opening a Designer Direct "Clearance" store there. I thought Designer Direct was supposed to be a clearance store anyway at all its shops!

Doesn't "DIRECT" imply direct from the factory (eg. supposedly cheap)?

So if the one at Harbourtown is a "Clearance" then what are the other stores?

That's just one store at Harbourtown I know, but as I say I don't find any of them all that cheap.

I think when they first opened the Adelaide Harbourtown, it was advertised as being "up to 60% cheaper" than normal retail prices (not sure of the exact percentage). The key to understanding this is to make sure you pay attention to the "up to" bit!

In my opinion Harbourtown is like the 'temporary' short term shops you sometimes see in malls that are there just until the centre can find a new permanent tenant. Therefore they don't bother to spend much on fitting out the shop and just have bare concrete floors, no ceilings, cheap signage and simplistic fittings and fixtures. Except at Harbourtown ALL the shops are like that!

The only thing I think it has going for it in all honesty is that it's an open air mall, but yet it's a managed and purpose built shopping centre, and in that sense it's unique in Adelaide and more or less unique in other states.

I can tell you alot of the shops dont sell much cheaper then normal, but they do try an have specials. The shops that do the best in habourtown though are the ones that actually sell cheap, such as globize, Valley(?), The bookshop & the sports store.


But overall you can find alot of cheap stuff if you look around.

[Edgar]

I went to Woolworths at Harbourtown yesterday and it was quite an experience. First of all, it is brand new, and it feels nice to walk into a brand new supermarket.

All the shelves, floors, cool fridges are all brand new, so items are all nicely stacks and they look nicer too. Anyway, the most outstanding feature is the self check-out counters. I am not sure if this is the first in SA, however, I gave it a try and I think it makes more sense to do it yourself as you have the ability to pack the stuffs yourself, and you do not have to wait in the line (provided these check-outs are not fully utilised).

This self check-out counter even takes your cash and coins, which I think is a featured technology desperately needed not just for these check-outs but across all vending/ticketing machine such as car park ticket machines.

[Norman]

All the refurbished Wollies stores are like that

[monotonehell]

This self check-out counter even takes your cash and coins, which I think is a featured technology desperately needed not just for these check-outs but across all vending/ticketing machine such as car park ticket machines.

Not quite sure what you mean Edgar, all car park machines take notes and coins. A human car park attendant can serve about 4 to 6 cars in the time it takes a normal parker to operate a vending machine. In busy car parks like Grenfell and Central Market UParks I used to average 3 cars a minute. In places where there was a vending machine and cashiers like Topham Mall UPark I could get through about 5 people while one guy was using the machine.The only advantage there was that the machine could take credit cards, something that stalls a cashier's transaction by so long that they don't have them.

Machines suck.

[Cruise]

I really wish they would bring back the old parking meters, Cruise hates walking around looking for a ticket box.