Geelong stores the choice for bargains

Hamish Heard
Geelong shoppers enjoy some of the cheapest supermarket grocery prices in the state, according to an independent consumer watchdog.
The city was named as home to two of the state’s five cheapest major supermarkets after consumer publication Choice ranked stores in order of affordability.
Coles supermarkets at Corio Village and Belmont were the star performers for valueconscious Geelong shoppers when Choice researchers surveyed randomlyselected supermarkets earlier in the year.
The publication visited 22 stores throughout Victoria with a shopping list of 28 branded products and five staples.
Shoppers at Coles Corio Village paid $96.81 for the products, making the store the third cheapest in the survey and $13.21 cheaper than the most expensive, a Safeway at Wodonga.
Coles Belmont Village was fifth cheapest at $97.85.
While Coles stores filled out the top five for majorbrand supermarkets, the equivalent basket of goods at an Aldi store would cost 40 per cent less than the cheapest Coles or Safeway.
But a Coles spokesperson said it would be wrong to compare the two brands.
“We run 20,000 to 30,000 lines whereas Aldi is more in the hundreds and they operate purely on generic products, so people clearly shop at Aldi for different reasons.”
The spokesperson welcomed the survey results which found that Coles nonsale items were on average 2.6 per cent cheaper than Safeway, the chain’s main competitor.