sylvia nearly here

On Thursday, Stage 1 Sylvia Park opens to the public. It will be, most likely, the most exciting thing to happen in NZ retail this decade (for retailers at least). While it may be eclipsed in size by future developments, it's scope and location will make it a winner, at least in the long run.

In the lead-up to the grand opening, retailers will be finialising the setup of their store interiors, and the developers will be rushing to complete the internal roads and carparks. With the next stages still under construction, shopping at Sylvia may be a bit of a chore for a while. Expect dust on your car until it's finished.

There's no doubt we'll be spending more and more time in malls, which hopefully won't lead to the death of current suburbs of character. I'd be a shame to wake up one day, suddenly realising that Kingsland has turned into Albany. I'm still looking forward to seeing the doors open at Sylvia.

In related rants, my local supermarket has decided to move all their wines into new fangled fridges. Which is fine, they needed more space for the chilled beer and wine. But they've messed it up completely. Firstly, they're horrible fridges with doors, so I see more fridge than I do wine. Secondly they've laid out the fridges by supplier - judging by the Montana logo, Pernod Ricard (NZ's largest wine supplier) has paid for the fridges.

This is wrong on many levels.
1. I don't shop for wine by supplier. The fact I happen to know who supplies what wine in the NZ marketplace is, frankly, an odd thing for a person to know. I'd imagine most don't. I - and everyone else - shops by the type of grape it was made with. Now I have a hell of a time finding a Sauv Blanc I want.
2. They've profiled sparkling in between the still wines. That's just stupid. Plus, they've given Lindauer prime position, so unless Pernod is going to ignore the Commerce Commission, they have given the best space to a future competitor.
3. The space on the shelf doesn't belong to suppliers, it belongs to me - the customer.

So, grow come balls Foodtown, and give your space back to the customer. And grow up Pernod, you'll sell more if you make it easier for me to shop.