In 1943, when local store owner, Harold Sheard received news of the death of his son, Lauri, in New Guinea, he and his wife Rose decided to sell up and leave the region to heal. Coincidentally at the time, a group of local community leaders had been seeking a way to rekindle community spirit amid the wartime difficulties.
A Co-operative was formed to purchase Sheard’s Store with an initial issue of 7,500 one-pound shares. The store had a total of five departments: drapery, clothing, hardware and furniture, boots and grocery.
A different kind of business, the Co-operative was owned by its members for the members, to support the community’s growth and development. The legal establishment of the Co-operative was finalised on November 1, 1944.
By 1952, the growing population of Nuriootpa and the Barossa Valley had increased sales at the store. In April of that year, the board of management came to a conclusion that in order to meet the demand, The Co-op needed a self-service store. To this time, every item purchased was sold ‘over the counter’. The Co-operative decided to become a franchisee for the independent Foodland supermarket chain and transformed its old grocery department into a modern self-service supermarket.
The building of the supermarket was accompanied by the demolition of old buildings in the vicinity of The Co-op store, which provided parking spaces for as many as 200 cars.
A new and expanded supermarket opened on December 9, 1965, but was beaten by the opening of a new Woolworths supermarket at nearby Tanunda two days earlier. However, the new Co-operative supermarket was to be such a success that the Woolworths supermarket chain withdrew from the Valley within two years.
In 1986, The Co-op embarked on a two-million-dollar renovation programme. The supermarket was expanded by approximately 900 square metres and included a modern serviced delicatessen area with fresh fish and a new innovation, a chicken rotisserie. The new shopping complex was named the Barossa Regional Shopping Centre, in order to ‘encompass the whole Barossa Valley area and express the regional nature of the Centre’.
The Foodland supermarket was next relocated to the new Shopping Centre and opened as Foodland Barossa Fresh. Trading commenced on Monday, November 2, 1998, with the official opening ceremony held on December 12, 1998. Opened by The Governor of South Australia, Sir Eric Neal, he described the shopping centre as ‘world class’.
Community demand continued to increase. After many years of extensive community consultation and detailed planning, the construction of the new shopping centre commenced in May, 2016. This included a new and again expanded Barossa Fresh Foodland supermarket. This new supermarket would offer an expanded ‘market style’ fresh food and local produce offer, as well as becoming a food hub for the region.
In October 2017, the re-developed shopping centre was completed, along with the brand-new Barossa Fresh Foodland supermarket.
It was officially opened on November 26, 2017 and included an in-store café, cheese room and bakery. The fresh produce departments were enlarged to accommodate the abundant local produce wanted by customers.
In 2020, the Bakery was awarded the national Metcash Bakery Department of the Year.
In 2021, seven departments of the supermarket were announced as finalists in the Metcash State Awards. These included Bakery (again), Deli, Meat, Fresh produce and Dairy/Freezer. The store was also nominated for Store of the Year. These nominations were well-deserved recognition of the great work of the store teams.
It was announced in June 2021 that The Barossa Co-op would cease its 57-year agreement with Foodland from July 1. The supermarket is to become Barossa Fresh, South Australia’s largest independent regional supermarket.
