Brendan Simpkins

IT’S a new look and a new identity for The Barossa Co-op’s flagship supermarket.

Now known as Barossa Fresh, the supermarket that has long appealed to farflung shoppers has opted to go solo after operating under the Foodland banner for nearly 60 years.

The Foodland agreement was signed in 1964, and at the time, the Foodland was the only supermarket of its kind in the Barossa.

However, that has gradually expanded to three supermarkets in the Valley and a fourth soon to join them in neighbouring Freeling.

With the rebranding comes new-found freedom, with Barossa Fresh now the largest regional independent supermarket in South Australia, and quite possibly even the nation.

Barossa Co-op managing director Neil Retallick told The Bunyip the process had taken about 15 months to finalise.

Barossa Fresh was now producing its own catalogues, which had allowed the store to better communicate what it had on offer and to a wider customer base, he said.

“What this catalogue allows us to do is present what our offer is more effectively,” Mr Retallick said.

“This is a significant step for us...because we can better present our offer, it is worthwhile to talk to more people.

“What we know happens here is that some people shop with us two or three times a week, some people shop with us every week.

“Some people are here every three weeks; what we notice is that people that live further away still come but they only come for the things they can’t get locally.

“We couldn’t talk to those people because we didn’t have a device to do it, so now we do...we can spread that story more widely.”

The supermarket is home to a wide selection of cheeses, with more than 150 varieties in store, sourced both locally and internationally, as well as an award-winning bakery section.

Barossa Fresh also stocks products from 46 Barossa Valley suppliers.

A new supply agreement has also been entered between Barossa Fresh and Brave Logistics, Drakes Supermarkets’ wholesale division, as a key supplier.

As a result, prices on more than 1800 products across the grocery, frozen and dairy sections have been reduced as of last Wednesday. This equates to one in 10 of Barossa Fresh’s grocery products.

Mr Retallick said that, wherever possible, the supermarket was giving back to and promoting the Barossa community.

Mr Retallick said that The Co-op was “worth the trip” for customers outside the Barossa, and Barossa Fresh was hoping to expand on that through its offering of quality products.