Aussie billionaire Adrian Portelli has opened his first supermarket in Melbourne‘s Deer Park, which he claims will undercut major chains on key grocery items.
The new LMCT+ supermarket drew a large crowd to its opening on Tuesday, about 17km west of Melbourne’s CBD.
The store operates on the same model as Portelli’s LMCT+ petrol station, which launched in Melbourne’s north earlier this year and is open to members who pay a $99 annual subscription fee.
In a video uploaded to Facebook, Portelli said if shoppers spot an item on the shelf which is cheaper at Coles or Woolworths and not on sale, he would ‘not just match their price, but beat it by 10 per cent’.
‘That’s how confident I am about the prices sitting behind me… if you do find anything just go to the front counter and they’ll fix you up,’ he said.
Some items at the store were cheaper than those offered by the major chains on Tuesday.
This included Weet-Bix, which was priced at $4.60, compared to $5 at Coles and $5 at Woolworths.
Eggs were also cheaper, priced at $4.20 for a dozen caged eggs, compared to $6.05 at Coles, $5.70 at Woolworths and $5 at Aldi.
Aussie billionaire Adrian Portelli has opened his first supermarket in Melbourne’s Deer Park, which he claims will undercut major chains on key grocery items
The new LMCT+ supermarket drew a large crowd to its opening on Tuesday about 17km west of Melbourne’s CBD
However, some items were more expensive. Pork belly was priced at $24.31 per kg, compared to $14 at Coles, $16 at Woolworths and $16.49 at Aldi.
Shoppers who spoke to 7News appeared pleased with the experience.
‘For a mid-week shop like that, we’re usually spending at least $20 to $25 more.’
Another shopper said the new supermarket was ‘fantastic’ but added that ‘not everything’ was cheaper.
Another agreed: ‘Some of the prices are good, some are very disappointing.’
Portelli suggested prices could improve as the scale of the business grows.
‘Now, we really don’t have any buying power. It’s our first supermarket. We’ve come up against these giants with hundreds of supermarkets, so their buying power obviously trumps ours,’ he said.
‘We’re giving farmers a chance as well, we’re not going to screw them over. We’re going to let them come in here and earn a good keep as well, and support everyone who supported us.’
Portelli suggested prices could improve as the scale of the business grows
Bananas displayed at the store were listed as $3.99 per kg
Some comments online appeared supportive of the idea.
‘When billionaires are more efficient than the government. What a time to be alive,’ one said.
Others were critical of the $99 membership aspect of the store.
‘I shouldn’t need a membership to go food shopping,’ another comment said.
Earlier this year, Portelli announced he was moving to Dubai and offered a scathing criticism of Australia’s lawmakers and media.
‘Australia is genuinely finished under its current control and leadership in the form of the government and media. It’s a big brainwashing circus,’ he said.
‘My $100million ATO donation clearly wasn’t put towards bettering the lives of Australians, so I’ll do it myself and build necessities in the form of petrol stations and supermarkets.’
