Woolworths has been forced to calm fears it’s quietly killing off one of the supermarket’s best-known sections after shoppers noticed delis vanishing during store makeovers.
Customers around the country have been questioning whether the fresh service counter is being phased out, after renovated stores emerged without a deli and others reopened with the section dramatically scaled back.
For many shoppers, the deli remains a supermarket staple, offering the chance to choose exactly how much meat, seafood, cheese and other fresh items they want, instead of being locked into prepacked portions.
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But Woolworths has insisted there’s no nationwide move to axe the counters, saying the vast majority of its more than 1000 supermarkets still have fresh service areas.
“We adapt our stores to better meet our customers’ changing shopping habits and are focused on providing a range of fresh food and convenient meal options, at dependable prices,” a Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo Lifestyle.
“While we continue to maintain fresh service counters across the vast majority of our more than 1,000 supermarkets nationwide, these updates allow us to evolve our in-store offer to better serve customers and communities.”
More and more Delis are disappearing from Woolworths. Credit: Glenn Pokorny/Facebook
Around 30 delis have shut for good over the past six years. Credit: Twitter
The retailer’s response comes after shopper concern flared online, with some claiming multiple local stores had dropped their deli altogether following renovations, while another had slashed the section’s footprint.
In the past six years, 30 Woolworths stores have also permanently shut their fresh service counters.
Staff from those sections have been moved into other roles in the supermarket.
Some stores have instead switched to “Deli Express” setups, where meats, dips and entertaining foods are sold prepacked, without team members serving customers at the counter.
One customer revealed that the deli counter at their local Woolies store had been replaced with a ‘Deli Express’ section. Credit: Reddit
At a Woolworths in Green Square, Sydney, a bank of cabinets now hides what was until recently a manned deli. Picture: Benedict Brook
However, the shift hasn’t gone down well with many shoppers, who say it limits choice and creates more packaging waste.
“Oh, the flow of plastic waste. I’m making the switch. I’m not buying five packets of ham for a kilogram,” one shopper said.
“That is the end of me buying any meat products from Woolworths. The deli was the only place that had any meat that was worth consuming,” another wrote.
A third said: “I’ve been waiting for this to happen at ours. Stores already doing it have so many prepacked products all with the exact same weight. One hundred options of shaved ham and they’re all 400g, it’s silly.”