12:00a.m. 5th May 2008

Owners of the Burnside Shopping Village Foodworks "perfect store" Gary Brooker and Trevor O'Connor. Photo: Barry Leddicoat/174250

The federal government wants to make it easier for global supermarket players like Wal-Mart and Aldi to set up shop in Australia, and independent retailer FoodWorks couldn’t agree more.

FoodWorks has just opened its first “perfect store” concept supermarket in Queensland – just the second in Australia – at the new Burnside Shopping Village on the outskirts of Nambour.

The concept was developed by FoodWorks national business development manager Simon Thompson, based on experience in the US and UK, and features different flooring and shelving as well as an open space layout with a contemporary style and vibrant colours ... not to mention a 52cm plasma television in the entry area to inform shoppers of the store specials.

But Mr Thompson said the key to the “perfect store” tag was that the range of products was designed specifically for the demographic of the location.

“What the tag means is that it’s the perfect store for that location. So what’s on the shelves at Burnside could be very different to what’s on the shelves at our first “perfect store” in Bradbury (in New South Wales),” he said. “That’s possible because we know who our shoppers are going to be, their age, what car they drive, their educational background ... what their dollar spend is.”

The 600sq m Burnside store, easily the biggest of the 16 FoodWorks-branded outlets on the Sunshine Coast, is jointly owned by the store’s general manager, Trevor O’Connor, and grocery manager Gary Brooker.

Mr O’Connor, who also owns the 7/11 service station/convenience store on the Nicklin Way at Kawana, said he believed the more competition in the sector, the better off consumers would be.

“Making it easier to set up in competition with Coles and Woolies is a good thing ... they’ve got such a dominant market share,” he said.

“The big difference between us and them in our case is the owners get to know the customers, and we also support our local community in a big way.”

In the past few years, FoodWorks has grown to be one of Australia’s largest leading independent supermarket groups, supporting more than $1.6 billion in total annual turnover. It has 400 FoodWorks-branded stores and a further 300 stores operating under different brands that are gradually being converted.

Mr O’Connor said the opening few days of trading had confirmed research that suggested people living in the Burnside catchment area were looking for an alternative to major centres such as Nambour Plaza.

“AC Neilsen did a survey for us and found people at Burnside were screaming out for something in that area,” he said.

The new FoodWorks supermarket is the anchor tenant in the Burnside Shopping Village which will see a bottle shop, hairdresser, bakery, newsagent, medical centre and pharmacy open over the next few weeks.

The supermarket already employs 23 people on a full and part-time basis, and Mr O’Connor said he was very pleased with the calibre of staff.

“We found most of them through word of mouth,” he said. “I also rang a teacher at St Johns College and they’ve sent me 10 of their best students, who are working part-time and are all terrific.”