Is the humble roadside stall having a moment?

For two growers in north-west Victoria who sell their produce exclusively at a roadside stall, 2024 has been a bumper year.

Nikki and Chris Baldock own a block of agricultural land on Mildura’s outskirts, a regional city established as an irrigation district and still surrounded by citrus farms, almond orchards and vineyards.

“Sometimes people ask why … our mandarins taste so good,'” Mr Baldock said.

“It’s just because they are fresh. Fresh off the tree. They are not three weeks old from one of the larger stores.”

Ms Baldock says there is an ethos within parts of the community that drives shopping at roadside stalls like theirs and farmers markets — and the quality and price of available produce doesn’t hurt.

“We’ve got lots of return customers,” Ms Baldock said.

A social media page set up in July 2022 to share the locations of stalls has grown to more than 2,200 members.

Mr Baldock believes people with more disposable income and time are more likely to shop around at a spot like their roadside stall.

“It’s certainly not convenient for people to drive 5 kilometres out of town to get a bag of mandarins,” he said.

“It’s a lot more convenient to go to the bigger chain stores.”

Monash University associate professor Fiona Newton, an expert in consumer behaviour and marketing, thinks a class divide might also be occurring nationally.

“Those [in Australia] with more discretionary income have more options,” she said.

Growing distrust in major supermarkets 

Ms Newton said consumers may be looking elsewhere as trust in supermarkets declined.

Roy Morgan research has found Coles ranked as the fifth most trusted Australia brand on average in 2023.

However, by March this year, that figure had plummeted 221 places, to the ninth most distrusted.

Woolworths brand trust also declined over that period, though less sharply.

“You can definitely see the big two have taken a hit,” Ms Newton said.

Earlier this week, the ACCC launched legal proceedings against Coles and Woolworths for what it alleged were misleading discount promotions. 

Ms Newton said the proceeding may open a door for more Australians to shop around.

“If the prices at those roadside stalls are good, then I think you’ll see people use them,” she said.

Shopping around for groceries  

There is nothing Mildura man Paul Anthony loves more than a delicious avocado for breakfast.

In fact, he reckons he eats three each day.

Over the long term, he believes he has saved about 30 per cent of his fruit and vegetable shopping costs by using roadside stalls.

Part of the appeal for Mr Anthony is that he can get a greater range of varieties of fruit and vegetables.

In his case, it is the wider choice of avocados that attracts him.

“There’s a lot of avocado varieties [such as] reed, zutano, bacon, which you don’t get in the shops anymore,” he said.

One day, after having established a relationship with a farmer through shopping at his roadside stall, he picked up a whole box for free.

“I dropped down to a farm one day and got a whole box of stuff that he wasn’t going to send through [to suppliers],” Mr Anthony said.

Cost of living leading to more theft 

Raymond Cavallo is another roadside stall owner who says his stall has been around for more than 100 years. 

Mr Cavallo pools together produce from a variety of growers in the region to stock his roadside stall, which he believes gives the shop more appeal.

He said he noticed that fruit and vegetables flew off the shelves during peak tourism season.

But in today’s economic climate, he has also noticed increased thefts.

“Yeah, they take a bag of this, take a bag of that,” he said.

“But you got the cameras, and you can see them. But what are you going to do?”

Mr Cavallo said he did not often report thefts to police because he could understand that, in the grand scheme of things, it is “not that bad” and people were going through tough times.

Similarly, the Baldocks have experienced theft, which they said was not a major issue if people were desperate.

“I don’t have a problem if someone can’t afford to have fruit,” Ms Baldock said.

“If they are constantly coming back, then that’s a different kettle of fish.”