My neighbourhood has a Woolworths nearby so naturally I do my shopping there. But for those who have the choice of either Woolworths or Coles, how do you choose which one to shop at?
I'm also curious to see where Ozbargainers shop at, so vote below!
Woolworths Vs Coles: Who Do You Shop With and Why?
Comments
Just moved back here and I'm missing Aldi. Chosen Piccones Iga in Edge Hill.
IGA and local fruit shop, screw woolworths and their bag ban
IGA don't give free bags too.
The difference is they don't sell those thick plastic bags. They have boxes or you can buy a paper bag. Could vary between stores
My guess is most ppl shop out of convenient
Woolworths are my local. I like knowing where everything is.
However Coles has vastly better bacon and also cuts the salami a bit thicker. So if I'm doing bacon and eggs or need salami, I will travel further to Coles to do a full shop there. Happens about once a fortnight. Yes - Coles gets my full shop because of their bacon!
However Woolworths has the 200g 'Salmon for cooking' that Coles does not have. This too makes me decide to do a full shop at Woolworths if required.
Do you mean the Tassal salmon trim for cooking that is like, $6ish? Because my local Coles has it. Such good value!
Mine too
Woolworths has the advantage of easily available 5% off gift cards.
It's important to keep track of Aldi special buys in any scenario.
5% off woolworths gift cards, how?
Coles - local, nicer and cheaper than iga, flybuys
Local butcher, local fruit and veg.
Because I can put a face to every fcukup.
And people know my name. :)
wheres the all four shops option?
majority aldi the rest split between the other 3 depending on whats on sale each week they are all equally close so distance isn't an issue.
any & all.
read the catalogues and make a choice based on that and the 'offers' thru colesworth cards.
multiple trips during the week any way so often visit 3/4 different ones in a week.
aldi is visited less often though.
woolies is my goto for petrol using wish cards, so tend to ensure I always have 4c/l discount available too.
.
Coles if I'm offered the 10k points for $50 shop for 4 weeks deal. Woolies otherwise.
If I had an Aldi near me, that would change things.
Everything but Aldi. Most fruit, veggies and meat from South Melbourne market. Costco for multitems like UHT milk for my Yogurt and Giradhelli brownie mixture. Coles/Woollies based on what is on special and who is giving me points.
Most fruit, veggies and meat from South Melbourne market
Their massages are also superb. I get them right after I'm done shopping ;)
Chez Dre, nearby, has the best hot chocolate in Melbourne and you can get a large cup version. I really would love to know what chocolate they use.
I have not tried them. Do you know if they're better than Koko Black?
@Clear: Personally I think so, and I am a Koko Black tragic. Chez Dre is down a laneway near the Chef's Hat. Warehouse of a place, really good Grand Petit Dejeuner (which we share) and a lot of small cakes etc if you want something "extra". Go early it gets quite busy.
Coles for me because its closer but prefer Woolies, I don't know why, for some reason I feel like the qualities better (even though they're the same). Woolies also have hot pockets and I haven't been able to find them at my Coles :(.
I think its the advertising for some reason
Yeah I think so to, to me its like a mixture of the advertising and I think the logo as well.
For some reason, Coles' minced meat (the fatty one, not the lean / heart smart one) tastes so much better than Woolies'. Does anyone know why?
Probably more meat in the Coles one.
Or more fat.
My dog will only eat the Coles one!
perhaps because of the flavor in the meat coloring?
For a small amount of items, I visit my very small, but very local coles
For a big shop, either my local Woolworths (because of the easily obtained 5%off e-gift cards), or the much cheaper fruit&veg/butcher/European grocer/junk mart which is a 13min drive but is worth the extra fuel cost if I’m buying a s***tonne of meat.Coles now because they have miniature collectibles. Woolies when they had the Disney collector cards.
Coles
cleaner, brighter, wider aisles, fresher fruit and veg, dedicated gluten free aisle, plus ww dont stock the milk that i drink.All of those things apart from the gluten free aisle I find to be true of Woolworths not Coles! I shop at both, maybe it's been a decade or two since you last visited a Woollies?
Safeway (I still call it that sometimes) for me. Used to be Coles due to Flybuys points, but since I’m getting pretty average deals now, have changed to Woolworths, whose bakery products are consistently much better than Coles I find, especially bread items and mud cake. Also, 5% off Wish eGift cards from Cashrewards is nice.
Is Woolworths originally safeway? No wonder I hate it..
I think we used to call it Safeway in Victoria only. Now we’ve just joined the other states lol
Used to? It's still only been about 5 years. We will be calling it Safeway for at least another 10 years. Old habits.
Franklins
Bi-Lo
I'm not supermarket racists, all of the above based on items on special.
I prefer Woolies, better deals for those not with big families, eg get 2 for half price etc.
And just their layout of the store and their self serve POS systems a bit better too imo.
Might sound a bit silly but if I have the children with me Woolworths as they have the free fruit. Kids look forward to it, and it keeps them occupied and happy. It has been mentioned Coles also do this but none do around me. I also like the Money App at Woolworths. Very easy to use discounted gift cards.
Some Coles have this too
where i live the adults from a certain ethnicity help themselves carte blanche.
I have seen someone (a young uni student looking person) take a whole bag full bananas (maybe around 10 bananas) without batting an eyelid. The bananas were separated into single fruits, so it took them a while.
I almost confronted them, but chickened out.
…. If they try to walk out with that, doesn't it still look exactly like they're stealing the bananas? I thought the point was that kids could eat them inside the store.
carte blanche
French?
Coles because it is convenient and better quality.
I also have a barcode of a staff discount card…Depends on the special. But I prefer Coles store in my area, more spacious compared to Woolies.
Usually coles. I prefer the visual atmosphere of the store over Woolworths.
Yes and I find the catalogue also easier to read because its less cluttered.
Coles because there's no Woolies in my suburb, however prefer Woolies for quality and options, I think they stock better quality brands.
I shop at all 3 because the shopping centre near where I live has all 3 supermarkets. Aldi for the staples, eg. eggs, cheese, flour, canned and frozen foods because they are cheaper. Coles for mostly fresh fruits + whatever that is on special, Woolworths for the rest because Woolworths pricing seems to be inline with Coles, but I can use the 5% discount egiftcards.
used to be coles but now Aldi (find it cheaper ) . Especially after the bag ban never stepped into coles again.
Aldi, just great and their meat specials are excellent and inexpensive … the $26 Wagyu recently was superb but not often available!!. I used to buy fresh meat, but the Aldi cryo packed product often has a 2/3 week use by window. With fresh meat use in 2 days or freeze, and I dislike frozen meat, Aldi has changed that for me!.
They have great cheese and dairy products, and the veggie/fruit offerings are now much improved.
Worst aspect, the specials often end up buying pots, tools and other items - but again good prices and mostly good items.
Woolies are my go to also for fresh vegies and fruit, they often have a slight edge over Aldi, quality,range, and price at times. Their deli counter is also good. ENJOY!!!!!You guys going on about the bag ban are hilarious. It was so hard for the people in England in WW2 not only did they have to put up with the blitz they also couldn’t take their rationed food home in plastic bags. Build a bridge and get over it.
Whataboutism.
In WW2 England should have been happy to receive rationed food, if they were in the Congo they would have had their hands cut off by the Belgians.
Also who ever has Mayver's Peanut butter for half price
Where's the option for both (Woolworths and Coles)? They both have things the other doesn't and both do some things better than the other. My shopping is split maybe 60/40 in Coles favour.
I shop at coles more often than wws. Coles usually have better offer to lure me there like 10k points for $50 purchase for 4 weeks. Every month or 2, either on my flybuys card or my wife's we would receive an offer like that, plus sometimes we receive 1000 points for $50 single purchase, and this again sometimes can be used with previous offer at the same time. Another reason for shopping more at coles is that I receive more coles gift cards from the surveys and focus groups I attend.
WWS in contrast provides me less deals like that, but still we receive attractive deals from time to time. Anyway I do enjoy the 10% off once a month for weekend shopping from my wws credit card, and I usually top up my wife's opal card with that.
As an ozbargainer I do check their category every Monday or Tuesday to see if there is any special on meat, vege, fruits or Baby stuff like wipes and Nappies, and plan my purchase according to that and the offers we received (if there is any).
I pretty much only get my petrol from WWS Caltex because the 7% off gift card from potm, and the better price comparing with coles express.
Aldi is a good option too for some products, I get some bread, meat and vege from Aldi quite often. When they have books and toys, I would always like to check if I want some for my daughter. I always buy nappy bags from Aldi, $2 for 200 durable nappy bags.
What is potm?
potm is one ozbargainer's user name. He has been selling gift cards with discount for a long time here. Now for some reason this kind of post is prohibited. But if you contact him privately he is still selling gift cards.
I like the Bakery at Coles.
Woolies, purely because of this:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/390209
even though I have a Coles practically on my doorstep.
Coles "lost" another triple your points offer on me this week. Its too much hassle chasing them every week.
By contrast I reached 2k points on my last woolies shop, using an instantly-activated 5 x points docket and the $10 rewards was credited instantly, as usual.
Coles by a country Mile
Aldi - rather starve then shop there
Woolworths - Closer to my home by 3 minutes. When I do go there to get the odd item or 2, always ends in regret.
Neither. Some combination of Costco and Aldi are my go-to.
Costco for things I can get away with buying in large quantities (eggs, anything from the bakery, frozen/freezable stuff etc). Costco's bakery section is a danger zone lol (giant pumpkin pie for $9 anyone?). Their rotisserie chickens are twice the size of the Coles/WW ones and half the price. Meats are often bought in bulk, portioned and frozen. A pack of paper towels from them lasts me a year for $12.
Aldi for things I want to try out or things you need to buy in small quantities or small top-ups of stuff I run out of. I'm quite fond of their banana chips though.
Coles for little things I need to buy to snack on at work. Rarely ever Woolworths.
I usually do one large shop at Costco and buy little things at Aldi as needed.
Woolworths because they are the closest and easiest to get to. Woolworths just seems to have the better quality. I do sometimes go to Farmer Jacks which is also close by every now an then.
Coles for online delivery. Woolworths online delivery fees are a joke!
I don’t know if it’s still true, but Woolworths is the only one that has same pricing in store and online. Coles has everything online at 5-10% more expensive other than catalogue specials.
Coles cause online shopping
Coles out of convenience. But wish there was an ALDI in Cairns!!!