Following Countdown’s recent acquisition of several South Island supermarkets beer lovers in Marlborough, myself included, fear a reduction in the variety of their favourite tipple available in the “gourmet province”.
Concerns were first raised in the Marlborough Express in August after Blenheim’s Redwoodtown SuperValue was sold to Countdown, closed for refurbishment and then reopened with a vastly reduced range of craft beers.
Then, just a week later, news came that another Blenheim supermarket had also been sold to Countdown. Boasting one of the country’s largest selections of imported and New Zealand-brewed craft beers, and even offering craft beer on tap, FreshChoice Springlands is much admired by craft beer lovers throughout New Zealand.
While the SuperValue, FreshChoice and Countdown chains are all allied to Progressive Enterprises (the Kiwi subsidiary of Australia’s giant Woolworths group), there’s a fundamental difference in the way they operate. SuperValue and FreshChoice stores are individually owned and free to source products from wherever they choose, but Countdown stores are controlled centrally from Auckland and, with few exceptions, are supplied exclusively from central warehouses.
Countdown’s centralised purchasing and supply system undoubtedly results in some remarkable bulk purchasing deals, but the downside is the system’s inherent inability to allow individual stores to source locally-produced products like craft and specialty beers. Hence, when Redwoodtown SuperValue became a Countdown, most of its craft beer range – the majority of which was purchased direct from small breweries – disappeared overnight. At the large Countdown in central Blenheim locally brewed craft beers have never been available.
Fearing a similar fate for the remarkable beer range at the Springlands supermarket I contacted its new owners, Progressive Enterprises. I explained my concerns to the group’s senior liquor buyer, Steve Sexton, who promised there will be a full review of the beer range at Springlands when that store is rebranded as a Countdown. He also assured me he intends to restore local craft beers to the Redwoodtown store and is considering allowing the store to stock other New Zealand craft beers. Furthermore he’s already invited two Blenheim breweries, Renaissance and Moa, to submit their beers for ranging. In the meantime shoppers at Redwoodtown Countdown are being encouraged to submit requests for their preferred craft beers, in person, to the store’s liquor manager.
Meanwhile Progressive’s big New Zealand rival, Foodstuffs, is making hay while the sun shines. Recognising the growing popularity of craft beer, Foodstuffs is quick to point out that its New World stores are locally owned and operated and are free to make stock purchasing decisions. “We don’t need to go to Australia or a Head Office to get that ranging in each of the different stores, the owner operators can make that decision based on the shoppers that walk through their door.” says New World’s marketing manager Fiona Stewart.
“Due to the location of New World stores throughout New Zealand we can align ourselves fairly closely with local breweries in each region,” Stewart says. “Therefore, if there is demand for a particular craft (or international) beer, New World store owners have the ability to offer it. With the change in NZ drinking habits, this is a serious plus.”
Liquor manager Reece Drake, who looks after a range of over 400 different beers including more than 200 craft beers at Wellington’s Thorndon New World, agrees: “The beer market has changed massively recently. Beer is becoming a focus in social groups and people are talking about it a lot more. It is good to see a focus on flavour coming through. People are grabbing something special for themselves or to share with friends. They want to try different beers.”
Foodstuffs certainly seems to be putting its money where its mouth is: New World was a major sponsor of this year’s BrewNZ Beervana events in Wellington.
• Geoff Griggs is grill magazine‘s beer resource writer and New Zealand’s most authoritative commentator on the subject.
Related posts:
