Countdown Quay Street

Just stopped in here to pick up a few essentials on the way home. What a rotten atmosphere! Ironically, what made me hesitate before turning into this supermarket was the potential ‘snob factor’. That was the one thing that wasn’t an issue, as it turned out. But both staffers I encountered were so rude! Made me feel about ‘this’ big with their attitude. The lady at the deli counter was mopping when I approached her section. She looked up at me, then continued mopping the floor for a good half-​minute while I stood there, feeling like some kind of impediment. She sets aside the mop at long last, and — without washing her hands — comes and attends to me with patent reluctance. No trace of a smile or greeting. She makes it abundantly clear she’d rather be anywhere else. I mean, I don’t envy her her job, but what good can come of projecting such an air of misery?! She asks if I want anything else, to which I say no thanks. I carry on down the long deli counter, and the potato salads catch my eye. So I wave her over. She says something to the effect of, «Oh, so you DO want something else, then?» as though I’ve just revealed myself as a flaming hypocrite. The potato salads were perhaps 10−15m away from the cold cuts! I hadn’t seen them before! She (again with patent reluctance) whams my choices into the little punnets and, without any parting salutation, turns to the next customer. The lady attending the self-​service checkouts, which I passed through, had a similar air of being held at gunpoint. My machine thingy was malfunctioning and she swanned up and, with an air of fantastic exasperation, sorted the problem. I wouldn’t normally be too affected by something like this, but seriously, this kind of attitude is just so perfectly pointless that it really grated on me. Especially since the folks at my usual supermarket (Pak n Save in Wairau) are without fail so lovely, smiley, friendly, that I just don’t see any reason at all for the people at this place to have such a rotten attitude. As for the store itself, it’s very smart in appearance, very ‘manicured’, which makes for a nice ambiance I guess. Or it would do, if the staffers turned that frown upside down.

Sometimes you just need to be able to buy carpet cleaner and icecream at 4am (yes in the same trip) without being judged. This is the place to do that.

This is the first supermarket I shopped in Auckland, because it’s close to my apartment. Staffs were helpful when u asked some questions. Vegetables and fruit were so fresh and well organized. But I still met some problem during checking out, coz I did not know to write the product number on mixed nuts bags. That’s quit different with supermarkets in United States, u just need to grab things and to check out without the writing anything on the bag. However, that’s not a big deal, I m gonna get an one card and shop in here often.

Shelfs had no stock of anything, waiting 30 mins to pay, only 2 tills open at 7pm on a Monday. Will not be going back here

I am not really a fan of Countdown but this is unquestionably the best one in the city. I guess the main draw of it is that it’s open 24 hours. I remember 2 nights before our wedding my mother in law was baking the cake and need extra flour at 11pm — I was sent on special mission here to get it. There is also a pharmacy and an Esquires café — we find the café quite handy as we often do our shopping on a Sunday afternoon so it’s nice to nip in for a coffee beforehand. As regards the supermaket, it has more to offer than other Countdown stores. There is much more choice and there are some gourmet options and the deli is better. They are obviously aiming for all the youngters living in flats in the city as there is plenty of food to eat on the go here. I wish there was more of this in Auckland — good food to eat on the go. There was so much of this in London and it’s one thing I missed about the UK when I moved here.

Sometimes you need a supermarket to be open outside of normal trading hours, Quay Street Countdown is one such supermarket. So when you have no tights and need a pair before 8am you can head on down to Quay Street Countdown and get them here at 7am. Maybe it is 11pm and you want a magazine, Quay Street Countdown makes this possible. What if you forgot a vital ingredient for a recipe and you need it at an obscure hour, this is your go to supermarket.
Beware though, the pharmacy closes at 9pm, it is not ²⁴⁄₇ like the rest of the supermarket. The Esquires is though. Why they had to put such a fail café inside here I don’t know. Anyway, this supermarket is geared towards tourists and inner city dwellers so expect a lot of food that is ready to go, a large drinks fridge and a better than the usual delicatessen. This supermarket also has self checkout, so you don’t become victim to the slowness of often non enthused staff putting your groceries through.

For a central city supermarket, Countdown Quay Street really holds its ground. It’s not cramped, insanely expensive, or difficult to find. In fact it does well at being a normal supermaket but in the middle of town. Nice one, Countdown.
It’s a bit of a one-​stop shop acually, as long as the only three things you need in life are a supermarket, a pharmacy, and a café. Who couldn’t build a central city life around wearing outsized underpants (thanks Countdown), popping pills (give it up for Quay Street Pharmacy), and drinking weirdly whipped frozen things more brightly coloured than can be good for you (go Esquires!)?

Make like the students and follow your nose to a good bargain! Living in the central city can be notoriously expensive so it’s awesome to have a supermarket right on your doorstep that has those on a budget in mind. It’s always hard when your stretching your last dollar and you can’t decide between a chocolate bar or that box of muesli which will be better for you and last you longer but damn do you want that chocolate.
Surrounded by many other supermarkets like the metro New World on Queen Street, which is so expensive it gives me a migraine just thinking about it, Countdown Quay Street has everything you need from grocery items to makeup, toiletries (It has its own pharmacy too).
Its usually pretty busy here on a 5pm-​6pm weekday with city workers popping in to grab something for dinner before heading home, so get in before the crush if you can!
Sometimes because of the pure fact that it has so many people in and out during the day it runs out of certain items like the last time I was in there and they were out of both lettuce and spinach which was pretty strange but hey they’re usually pretty accommodating and happy to help you out.