By 8am Wednesday morning, a long queue had already formed outside the new Halls Head ALDI, with about forty curious customers waiting for the doors to open.
Curious local residents, ex-east coasters, and ALDI enthusiasts were mixed throughout the crowd.
First in line was proud mother Carole Stovold, whose son Mason Phear is one of the Halls Head store managers.
“I said I’d be here for opening day for him, to give him that extra support, and just happened to be the first one in the line,” Ms Stovold said.
“He was one of their very first recruitment, for new managers…They’ve bent over backwards for their staff and the training’s been great... the fact that they’re opening up to seventy new stores in the next two years, and the jobs that’s going to create for WA, it can only be really really positive.”
Mr Phear said the setup had its stresses, but the team had made it flow smoothly.
Customer Amanda von Paleske said she was there to beat the school rush.
“I’m originally from the eastern states… so I’ve had four years of missing ALDI,” she said.
“I’m really amused how the supermarkets are playing off each other, it’s something that happened in the eastern states as well, we’ve seen a lot of news reports this week about it.. with all the downturn in Perth, with the jobs and all that in all different sectors I think it’s something which is going to be a positive thing long-term.”
It seemed the competition had begun before the store even opened, with Coles parking a large sign outside the western entrance to the shopping centre right below ALDI’s “Now Open” sign.
Another customer Zoe Westwork said the hype around the arrival of Germany’s supermarket chain was definitely justified.
“With Coles and Woolworths, knowing there’s no other option, and the price of living in WA is so much higher… ALDI will be, you know, a little refresh from the other two major brands,” she said.
“I went onto their website last night to check out all their meat and everything and it seems to be a lot cheaper than what coles and woolworths, what you’re paying for there at the moment, so it’s probably the place i’ll come to get my meat and stuff now,” shopper Kirsten said.
Others were just curious to see something new and a little different.
“I just wanted to have a look, see what they’ve got… We’ve heard so much about it so we wanted to come and see,” shopper Elizabeth Warren said.
Bradley O’Reilly said he was just there for something to do.
“This is my first time. Apparently they have avocados for under a dollar so I’m looking forward to that,” he said.
At 8.30am the doors opened and the first customer, Ms Stovold, walked through a red ribbon.
Before long the aisles became a hive of activity with customers inspecting the range of unfamiliar brands, and comparing prices.
ALDI employee Bernie was showing people ALDI’s unique packing system.
“When people come through we show them... how to place the trolley and pop the stuff in and go to the bench to pack the stuff… because the customers pack the bags themselves,” she said.
She said the store sells their plastic bags for 15c each as a way of keeping prices down for customers, and as an environmental initiative.
“I’m from South Australia and you buy [the bags] everywhere over there so i’m used to it, it’s a good thing. And they’re reusable.”
On the same morning, Coles Halls Head had decorated their own store with balloons, in celebration of the opening of their completed meat and dairy departments.
A Coles employee said she was unphased by the ALDI opening.
“I reckon we’ll still get lots of people. ‘Cos I’ve heard good and bad things about ALDI, so we’ll see how they go,” she said.
The Mandurah ALDI on Aldgate Street is due to open on July 13th.
