Piedmonte’s supermarket is something of an inner city suburbs icon, an easy to access got-everything store, tram-line and parking out the front, central to the North Fitzroy shopping strip.
It has an old-worldy atmosphere, in that the building is sort of 60s and the signage isn’t too flashy. Dust and flies linger on window ledges and it feels like not much has changed in decades. The roof inside is high above, thanks to the mezzanine upper floor, climbed to on wooden stairs where a non-digital photolab and shelves of tupperware, household goods, and party goods gather dust. A coffee shop and nut bar are seemingly never occupied yet continues optimistically. But downstairs is in constant motion, six to eight cashiers will be whipping the streaming customers through from early morning to late night every day of the year.
Wafts of fresh baked Turkish bread and roasting chickens drag you in. A dog’s almost always tied up outside and there’ll be a slightly dishevelled busker. Bikes cling to anything solid and the Big Issue seller shouts “Echh-shoe” somewhat incomprehensibly and you’ll later see him browsing the fresh pasta.
It’s a supermarket that has to straddle some of the poorest and richest residents of inner Melbourne, as well as the diverse range of ethnicities. You can pick up imported French creme fraiche, organic ice-cream, peking duck, fresh fish, puy lentils, fresh pasta sauces, wiltof, baby spinach, Maldon sea salt, toilet paper, lettuce, bananas, lamb chops, fresh foccacia, dutch biscuits, or just bread and milk. The deli is well stocked with hard and soft cheeses, olives, antipasta, dips, salads and salamis; and excellent smoked bacon. The eclecticism makes it a haunt for the curious, but just confuses and bewilders the uninitiated like a spiders web. It takes work to walk out with just the milk you went in for.
In summer its chill is a relief, while for the rest of the year it brings on a shiver. The dairy case aisle particularly needs thermal wear. Sunny weekends bring in the picnickers grabbing extra beer and dips before heading to Edinburgh Gardens, during the Grand Final there’s hardly a soul around, service is quick on Cup Day around three too. In winter its lighted footpath comforts the tired and homeward bound commuters. Best avoided Sunday evenings when seemingly everyone in the surrounding area runs out of milk. In spring the fresh jonquils by the door and brilliant yellow daffodils distract and bring on impulsiveness.
It’s an interesting place, but all supermarkets have an element of interest, it’s the subtle differences that get us through homogeny.
PIEDMONTE’S SUPERMARKET
Corner Best and Scotchmer Streets, North Fitzroy +61 3 9481 1600