Estella Central Foodworks supermarket stocking final shelves as historic opening approaches

After more than 10 years of waiting, a Foodworks will be the city's first supermarket to open its doors across the Murrumbidgee River at the all-new Estella Central Shopping Centre.

Until this point, the closest major outlet for northern suburbs residents has been the Gurwood Street Woolworths.

The supermarket, owned by The Reddrop Group, will be its 28^th store, and the company's chief operating officer Lincoln Wymer said although they have won national store of the year awards more than once, this will be their best one yet.

"This will be the nicest store we've ever built from scratch," Mr Wymer said.

The store opens doors on Tuesday, with a grand opening celebration to be held in the future.

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The spacious full-format supermarket will feature a self-serve sushi section, a deli, a liquor store and even supply some fresh plants.

Mr Wymer said the supermarket will feature four self-serve checkouts as well as traditional ones and even has state-of-the-art digital price tags.

"This will be the first time a supermarket in our group has had self-serve checkouts," he said.

Mr Wymer said the digital price tags will enable staff to manage stock better.

"Usually you'd have to run a batch of tickets on a Wednesday to Tuesday week, but now if we have too much of an item in stock, I can scan a barcode, put it on special, press send and it will be on special [straight away]," he said.

The community-minded supermarket is looking to support local organisations in the surrounding suburbs and in the same spirit, is sourcing local brands.

"We're using the local Lake Village Butchers [to supply our meat]," Mr Wymer said.

He said the company has worked really hard to "put a nice offer in" for local residents.

"We [really] hope people will give us time to get it up and running," he said.

Gemma Webster will be the new store manager, coming across from the company's Turvey Park Foodworks, joined by brother Marcus who will work as the store's grocery manager.

The store will also provide a major employment boost to the community and has already hired in the vicinity of 40 workers, however they are still on the hunt for more hands on deck.

"We're still looking for a liquor manager and a dairy freezer manager," Mr Wymer said.

He said the company has been struggling to secure experienced staff, with many at the new store not having a great deal of years behind them.

"We really need the locals to understand that apart from a handful of staff, we will have a whole team of people here who have never worked in a supermarket before," he said.

Earlier this year, it was announced Coles is also planning to open a supermarket in the city's north following the purchase of land at the nearby Boorooma Shopping Centre.

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