Piedimonte’s Supermarkets

Oh Piedi’s… How is it that you look so dated but stock such awesome goodness?
Yes, you are expensive and always seem to be busy — and what’s with the endless bikes and dogs constantly parked at your door? You are a hipster paradise but I wouldn’t want you any other way.
Whenever I am being ambitions in the kitchen and am stuck for weird ingredient, you will always have it. Whenever I am after a sneaky neenish tart at 3pm on a weekday, you have it there waiting for me. And whenever it’s pay day and I want to splash out on a new hot sauce (big spender over here) — you’ll always have a new one that I’ve never seen before.
How do you you do it? Never change Piedi’s. Never change.

A little-​known fact: you can get photos printed on demand from two self-​serve booths upstairs for 10 c per print!

As far as local supermarkets go, Piedimonte’s is pretty great. It sure beats going to one of the big brands, though expect to pay a bit more for products overall. The meat selection is usually well stocked, including a good range of fish and nice cuts of meat.
The deli area is a bit cramped. Take a number and stand your ground if you’re after some freshly sliced cured meat or a chunk of cheese. The selection is good, though pay attention to prices and don’t just grab the first thing you see.
Pro tip: Parking out front isn’t abundant, so try and pick off-​pick times to visit. Oh, and also be prepared to run the gauntlet of a selection of local «interesting» characters who seem to hang out the front.

A friend suggested I go check out this store, and after visiting the store I’m wondering if perhaps I need to replace the friend with someone with better judgement.
I’m sure this store has legions of fans who can drone on about how fabulous this store is. Frankly, I’m rather puzzled. Perhaps they have never been in a gourmet food store before, or in a proper downmarket independent supermarket, or perhaps they never leave North Fitzroy. I went into this store a week ago and I feel my karma has negatively been affected by being inflicted with such a depressing store and I can’t shake the memory of it so I feel compelled to comment and put a long rambling review here as I detoxify my mind.
Firstly, the store is dimly lit and frankly I found it rather dirty. If they can’t keep the store looking a bit more decent, what hope have we got to trust these people with food hygiene standards?
There’s some random bits of signage which was pretty confusing and hard to read. Now I am sure someone finds that really charming and appealing but lets be real here, the signage is pretty bad.
Let’s talk about the cheese section. On the left of the store is the usual generic supermarket plastic cheese which yes I have been known to eat and you can get anywhere. And then on the other deli side of the shop, is a miserable range of huge bits of authentic mysterious Proper European Cheese. Now any store that splits its cheese section into the craptastic section on one side and the proper section on the other side is worthy of a complaint. Have a decent cheese section in one place and be done with it.
I wandered down through the fishy section (well, they have seafood) and the meat (I recall seeing the same Kangaroo that Woolworths sells which by the way I thought tasted disgusting but that’s a whole other topic isn’t it?).
Now, lets look at the stock levels. Well, frankly, the store shelves were not well stocked at all. Clearly they have trouble managing their own inventory and by keeping it lean they have managed to survive for so many years. But surviving is not what we need. Australia Post survives yet the average Australia Post office I have been in is a complete disaster area. I found this place reminded me of a rather depressing store in a communist régime with a general scarcity of product on the shelves. It’s all rather grim. Oh and then they have the women’s intimate personal items next to the men’s razors. How about putting the mens items together and then have a wonderful section for the women?
Oh and then lets talk about the service. The staff looked completely miserable and clearly do not enjoy working there. The deli meat guy bossed me around about where to find the pancetta I was looking for. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
On the plus side, they have a range of fresh wanker micro herbs which I haven’t seen anywhere else in the general area. Now I’m not advocating micro herbs mind you, I mean they look nice and all on whatever I cook but frankly a huge handful of any Proper Herb is probably what Grandma would have cooked with and I don’t really see any reason to change it.
Oh and the parking around this area is pretty bad, and to get back into civilisation requires a massively congested right hand turn so you are stuck at a set of lights for ages which means our lovely independent shopping expedition turns into a carbon burning red light fuming waste of time.

It’s a supermarket that captures everything from food to booze to party decorations. Although the bottle shop offers limited wine, you’ll find some random items upstairs and a lot of niche ingredients in the market, particularly great cheese.
For those who want to picnic in Edinburgh Gardens, it’s the perfect location to pick up goodies for your picnic basket. Down side? It’s kind of on the expensive side, but worth it when you find an ingredient you can’t get at Coles or Woolworths.

I love this supermarket and I’m not even Italian. It has all my
best loved food in the one place. Well most of them anyway.
Thankfully this place isn’t hipster central and still retains the look
and feel of the supermarket from long ago. It also keeps it’s traditional
customers. Not only is there a wide range of foods available; as much
as any other supermarket, but there is a strong focus on Italian produce.
So many good products to find, discover and explore. I wish I was in
one of those scenarios where I found the suitcase stuffed with cash.
I would empty it here.
You will find, fresh pastas, sauces, and all kinds of wonderful Italian
products. It’s a great supermarket that sees no need to change itself
for the modern times. It doesn’t need to. What I really need is some
camping gear: I should live here for a month or so, thus being able
to try pretty much everything.
Piedmont’s is really a one stop shop: A deli, A hardware store,
A supermarket, A green grocer, and fresh produce. It even has it’s
own alcohol section. Did I mention the cheese’s, meats, and pasta’s?
A great local store with fantastic produce and products available.
truly an inspiration for awesome ingredients to keep in the kitchen.
it’s all here at Piedmont’s.

There is no doubt that Piedemonte’s Supermarket has captured the heart of the North Fitzroy community. Strong devotees can be heard reeling off the many plaudits of this Continental focused supermarket. And reader beware, make sure you are not the one to question it’s old interior, confusing layout and strange mix of achieving a wide range of stock in some areas and a severe lack in others. Because, you would of course, entirely be missing the point.
Piedemonte’s is without a doubt a supermarket with a difference. It has a fantastic range of all things Mediterranean and European. If you can’t find a gourmet product anywhere else, then Piedemonte’s is certainly worth a look. You can also tell that this place is run by people who are into food and cooking. You won’t find squeaky clean floors and the austere feel of your general supermarket here. Just good old food and more food.
Just beware. You can get lost looking at all of the same but slightly different products they stock here. Something about this place just makes me want to spend hours walking it’s aisles only to buy me a french baguette, some goats cheese and specialty ham from the deli — oh and some champagne from there attached liquor store. Edinburgh Gardens here I come!

An independent supermarket usually means that the prices are a little higher by a few dollars, per product.
So what does Piedimonte’s offer to the average Joe to keep them from straying to the big guys?
Deli. If you build it, they will come.
Cheese, meats = yum.
Nice and fresh and delicious.
No one really cares about the price as soon as you get to taste the food unless the food doesn’t taste good. When I eat the cheses from here, I forget about the price.
They have all the other usually supermarket things (fruits, veg, other products on the shelves) so you can also collect other bits and bobs while you’re dreaming of cheese.

When I first moved to Nth Fitzroy 12 years ago I fell in love with Piedimonte’s, mainly because it was different to any other supermarket I had been to.
This place is a blend of old Italian produce market with hipster greenie environmental co-​op. This melting pot of a store is in the hub of Nth Fitzroy on the best street in town (sorry couldn’t resist).
You get a huge mix of patronage and I’m sure some gets especially dressed for the occasion.
The prices are a bit higher than a mega chain mart, but that’s what it takes to be an independent in the most mega chain industry in Australia. Piedimonte’s has been serving us well and with style for a long time and I hope they become the next mega.
They are mega in Fitzroy and that’s the way I like it!

North Melbourne IGA has the title of being one of Australias most expensive supermarkets, I feel North Fitzroy Piedmonte’s comes in closely behind.
Ok there is a better than average (average being Coles) selection of cheese and smallgoods… mmm smallgoods, olives, artichokes and antipasto type delicious little things. So yay for deli fans.
However if you need the basics you are kind of screwed $$$. Im guessing this does’nt phase the majority of comfortable North Fitzroy residents who dont baulk at paying $ 12 a kg for mince, but if you are a uni student you will learn quickly not to come here for your weekly basics.
Monopoly. A game and and a concept that will see you forking over higher than average prices for your organic lettuce because there is simply nowhere else.
I might remind readers that I have been a poor uni student for so long that my views are horrifically skewed and if you enjoy being robbed for avocado thats your prerogative.

Is it normal to get excited over a supermarket? I’m not sure. But that is definitely the reaction I had the first time I stepped inside Piedimontes.
Maybe it’s cos I had come from the ‘burbs and wasn’t used to all this, you know, organic produce and stuff, but Piedimontes has a seriously amazing range of stuff you will never find in a normal supey.
Organic, palm-​oil free soap? Check. Veggies with dirt on them? Tick. Deli overflowing with a billion types of meats and cheeses? You bet.
Oh, and in the mood for a random piñata to brighten up your day? Head upstairs.
Just be warned– getting a park here is a bitch.

It’s not like other supermarkets; it most certainly isn’t like shopping at Coles, and thank goodness for that. You can get the Coles treatment everywhere. Piedimonte’s feels old in that comfortable and familiar kind of way. I’m not sure when the store was last decorated, but it has been serving the North Fitzrovian community for over 50 years now and the locals seem perfectly happy about that.
As you might gather from its name, Piedimonte’s has a wonderful selection of Italian foodstuffs. Their cheese counter and bakery alone is enough reason to shop here. And of course you can get everything here that you might wish to find in any supermarket, so all the Italian goodies are kind of like bonus items, making Piedimonte’s better than other supermarkets.
Upstairs there’s stationery, toys, kitchenware, all kinds of stuff; things that I was certainly surprised to find on my first visit here. There’s even a photo developers here. Piedimonte’s has everything, and then some. It’s got heart.

Piedimontes may be an IGA but it is also so much more. This North Fitzroy staleworte has a fantastic deli with lots of variety– think stinky cheeses, marinated olives and salami. Yum! The bakery section is also a highlight, I picked up an olive foccacia for my trouble and it was fresh and I could actually see and taste the green olives inside! Result. Beautiful cakes and pastries tempted me, but I held my ground and headed to the fruit section.
The fresh food sections looked great but more expensive then Coles or Safeway, maybe better quality? Maybe just inflated pricing for North Fitzroy locals? The grocery section had variety of brands plus all the usual suspects were represented. IGA do make an effort to be part of their community and you could feel that here. If I was North Fitzroy local I would drop by every day, but its just a tiny bit too far.

Google Piedimonte’s Supermarket and you’ll happen upon a slightly blurry Flickr photograph that one of this Italian convenience store’s loyal customers has added titled ‘Haloumi from Piedmontes [sic] Supermarket… after I fried it up. Nom nom nom!’ Such is the local devotion to Piedimonte’s.
I only found myself at Piedimonte’s when a Spring Equinox picnic in nearby Edinburgh Gardens brought me a) nearby and b) close to death from Melbourne’s own interminable brand of unexpected cold, practically necessitating a booze run to this popular North Fitzroy store.
Selling everything from basics to gourmet foodstuffs and stocking a fine selection of cheese, olives, meats and fresh pastas, Piedimonte’s Supermarket also stocks an excellent array of alcohol. Quite possibly one of the best — and most gourmet — little supermarkets in the vicinity.

This is kind of the hub of urbane North Fitzroy and could easily fall into the trap of becoming an over priced trap for hipsters and young ‘cosmo’ families that prefer to shop where the good looking folk are. In fact, I read that Piede’s has the best looking patronage of any supermarket in town! You know what though, if you’re aware of the limitations of shopping here, it’s actually not nearly as bad as it could be and there are some surprising benefits.
The fish here is good, so is the meat, as is the deli area. Sure, prices are above normal supermarket chain prices, but you’re supporting a fucking locally owned and operated business that actually services a community and its employees, not just its board and share holders. So get over it! Be thankful you can grab some cheese and snacks for your Ed Gardens barbecue or picnic and stop your complaining. OK!