1 June 2010

MY SHOPPING HABITS

Tonight I watched a television item on cat fish that is being sold in New Zealand supermarkets. It seems that some fishermen from Nelson will not be going fishing for up to four weeks as the competitive price of imported Vietnamese catfish in their local Countdown supermarkets has meant there is no market for the fish they would catch. Fish caught by local fishermen in local waters cannot compete? Hmmm.

For a couple of years now I have conscientiously shopped only at one of the two big supermarket chains in New Zealand. My friends and anyone who will listen know that I shop at New World in Remuera, occasionally visit Pak ‘n Save and buy incidentals from the wonderfully witty Prashant of the Matakana Four Square. (I admit to also shopping occasionally at Nosh and Farro Fresh as I am in love with their policies of stocking up-and-coming artisan items, and I am lucky to be in a position to afford such luxuries now and again.)

I believe the reasoning for my choice is sound. My personal support and dollars always go to the stores of the Foodstuffs chain, as it is proudly 100% New Zealand owned and operated, with a co-operative model where locals buy into and are guided by the business advisors in the three regional companies; Auckland and the area north of Taupo, Wellington which also covers the central North Island, and the South Island. Individual local ownership means profits are held by the New Zealand owners and some hopefully filters into the local community by various means. Individual owners at Foodstuffs can take advantage of the buying power of the parent group but are free to stock their stores with artisan and local produce as they see fit. There are three levels of store at Foodstuffs; the giants Pak n’ Save who claim to be the cheapest supermarket in the country, New World which has a huge degree of sophistication of both goods and service in the shops I go to, and the smaller Four Square stores where the owner greets every shopper like an old friend. The money I spend there stays in New Zealand.

On the other side, I have completely lost interest in the second dominant chain, Progressive, (their stores are Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown, and I understand they will all be the Countdown brand within a year or two.) This chain is offshore owned, which to me means the profits do not benefit the New Zealand community, and they have centralised buying and distribution for all stores in their chain. Artisan producers tell me it’s hard to get their products into a local Progressive store. But I was really turned off shopping at Progressive supermarkets when I attended Vision 2020, a Government sponsored conference in Christchurch about two or three years ago. The CEO of Progressive told the assembled farmers, producers and agricultural business people present that at that time Progressive had three full time food buyers in China. As anyone who knows me will attest, I have been a passionate supporter of New Zealand food produced by our farmers, artisan producers and local horticulturalists for many years. I wondered why it was that our country, with an economy which has a backbone of agricultural production, needed to go out and source food that might put New Zealand producers out of business. (viz, the garlic industry).

Tonight I am enraged by the mere thought of Vietnamese catfish, farmed in the Mekong Delta, being brought into the country and sold in Countdown stores, effectively undercutting by more than half the price asked for a New Zealand fish like hoki. It was also suggested that the quality could be suspect. What next I ask?

I understand that there are people who experience financial difficulty putting food on their table every night, and can only afford to buy the very cheapest food. I also concede that both chains make excellent profits, but then this is business and until we think of a better alternative to that, we are stuck with supermarkets raking in seemingly large profits. But my money will be spent in 100% New Zealand owned stores, where hopefully the owners recognise that locally grown and produced benefits all Kiwis. I find it unpalatable that there is a need to seek out goods when they can be sourced or grown here in our beautiful country.