Thomas Dux

Last week Sunday my wife and i encountered an employee — Johnny on the cash register with such an attitude i thought we were shopping at some low end grocery store in some down and out part of the world. When i confronted him about his attitude he waved me off with «Ah Whatever» in an arrogant disregarding way and called for the next customer to serve. I spoke to the manager about this character and another separate issue and on both accounts was unable to deal with the complaint not offering any satisfactory resolution. Emailed a complaint letter to head office and haven’t got a reply 1 week later.
This supposed ‘premium’ grocer in Paddington needs to get their staff re-​trained to offer the premium customer service that goes with their premium prices. Go to any Nespresso store (a premium shopping experience) and see what outstanding customer service is all about. I will be taking my grocery money somewhere else.

I enjoyed my trip to slightly fancy boutique Woolie’s. Did I walk out with the items on my list? No. They don’t stock coconut aminos, organic tomatoes out organic capsicum. They do, however, stock organic foods that don’t soak up pesticides.
They have lots of fancy foreign ranges from 2−4x the price. Someone apparently buys them so way to capitalise on my digestively challenged peers.
So why the 4 star review? Customer service is really good. Everyone except the cashiers seemed to be happy to be there and really into food. Generally, when I go to such shops, I either get stuck with some pre pubescent-​looking teen who needs me to spell out hard words (t-​a-​m-​a-​r-​i) so s/​he can look it up, or snot faced people who learned everything they know about customer service from those two clerks from «pretty woman» (to which I say «big mistake!»). Yes, Woolworths, I will probably return to this place if I’m in the area solely because I need a literal and figurative palate cleanser from the snobby, lazy clerks who litter the shops in this area.

Thomas Dux is great for two things — fruit and vegetables, and specialty items.
The fruit and veggies have to be seen to be believed. You know the glossy, delicious-​looking fruit and vegetables splashed about in the Woolworths and Coles ads that never seem to look anything like the beaten vegetable corpses on ice at your local supermarket?
They’re at Thomas Dux. You can also find neat fruit sample trays dotted about, with mangoes, cherries, mandarins… whatever they’ve chosen to cut up that day.
They also stock things like the delicious Lorina soft drinks and various other bits and pieces for special occasions.
The best way to patronize Thomas Dux is for the fruit and veggies or for those little things you can’t get anywhere else, as ordinary groceries tend to be more expensive. However, if you keep your eyes open, the specials can be awesome

With one or two other shops in the city, Thomas Dux is a premium supermarket that proudly caters to a higher end clientele. It is a truly wonderful grocery shopping experience, but before you know it, your spending $ 50 on three or four item. The produce is as fresh as can be, and there’s a great variety, too. There are lots of imported and local gourmet cheeses and smoked meats that can make anyone’s mouth water. Best of all, there are always sample tables where featured cheeses or crackers or olive oils are put on display for tasting. That way, you know what your $ 30 cheese tastes like before you buy it. The price might be an exaggeration, but only slightly. The people who shop here are good looking, fit, and appear quite affluent. Thomas Dux may very well be as much a country club as it is a supermarket.

There’s no denying that this sells some great produce, but my lord, don’t you pay for it! I’d say what you can buy is similar to that of Harris Food Farm, you just pay more for it. Although, being situated in Five Ways, your average local probably won’t mind/​notice that they’re paying a few extra bucks, especially as it saves traipsing to Coles in Edgecliff.
I won’t deny that I like the majority of products on offer, I just get a bit peeved at paying $ 8 for a small salad that doesn’t taste particularly nice!

The upper market finally have somewhere to splash that coin, it’s a beautiful establishment with high attention to detail on presentation, display material, freshness of fruit and veggies, and customer service.
All the veggies looked very luscious and well taken care of, with an array of fruits you don’t usually see in supermarkets. This is a place where bargain bins don’t exist, rather, there are shelves of elusive transformative lollies, nuts, sun dried, oven roasted, pickled, and layered goodies spread around the store in a tasting style event with staff providing a rich source of information on the most popular treats.
The deli at the back, mountains of imported cheeses, all delicately balanced, staged on a hierarchy of ages, regions, smells, tastes, and specials. Never miss a beat with your favourite moulded cheese, or if you prefer the crumbling varieties, they’re an earthquake of variety, every oraphis of the store offers a new angle on your old tastes, challenge yourself.
This is the place to go for organic, vegan and any other speciality diet varieties of ingredients for yourself to whip up some exciting paleo specialities. Mind you, you’re paying for it.

This is one of the most incredible food shops I’ve ever been lucky enough to explore. Thomas Dux is a foody’s heaven — just rows and boxes and boxes and rows of top quality, beautifully presented foods. It’s a hard one to categorise — too high quality and exclusive to be labelled a supermarket, but then too big and well established (there are a few Thomas Dux’s dotted around Sydney) to be considered a delicatessen.
Walking through the entrance is like walking in to a garden — bunches of flowers in large stone pots line the store’s façade. There is no front, sliding door that one has to walk through. Instead, I just popped in from the street, and was instantly transported in to a parallel universe of deliciousness. The fruit and vegetables take up a good chunk of the shop floor, all delicately arranged in symmetrical mounds. There is a wide selection of organic fruit and veg available, baskets brimming with freshly picked salad leaves, pre-​prepared fruit and special offers. Thomas Dux is the type of shop where there’s no need to squeeze the mangoes to make sure you pick ripe ones — they all seem perfect, and wouldn’t be on the shop floor if they weren’t.
There’s an impressive cold counter at the back, stocked with a range of hams, salamis, a vast array of cheeses, fresh salads and dips. I like the way the counter is square in shape, allowing you to walk all the way around and admire the food from every angle. They also stock an incredible variety of sushi — freshly made by their sushi supplier everyday. On top of the counter, there are little morsels of banana and walnut loaf to tempt passing customers — the cake selection is impressive, especially for what is undoubtedly a shop heavily frequented by health conscious yummy mummies.
Along one wall, large dark cabinets display the bakery items. The famous bakery, Sonoma, stocks many of Dux’s shelves, with a heavenly array of spelt, wholegrain, raisin and organic loaves, baguettes and rolls. There are plenty of croissants, pain au chocolat and pain au raisin, puffed up and glossy and waiting to be consumed. I tried a completely exquisite sweet sourdough bun, swirled with chocolate and cinnamon. The bread was light and freshly baked, and the chocolatey swirl was unsurprisingly divine.
This shop stocks everything you could possibly imagine wanting to eat, but it is all of exceptional quality. I can’t recall seeing a single fizzy drink, cheap chip or tacky chocolate. Instead, elegant bottles of presse, smoothie and fruit juice, hand-​cooked potato chips, deluxe biscuits and cocoa-​rich chocolate are arranged enticingly. As with all things, you pay for the quality here — there are no ‘basic’ items here. But still, it gives you confidence and refreshed vigour to stay on the path of health and virtue when you see all that is on offer here. Oh, and did I mention that on Saturdays there are bowls filled with free samples dotted around the shop? If you are determined, you could definitely eat enough for a free lunch before buying your groceries, and that makes the shop much better value.