National wants to break up Foodstuffs. The Greens want to establish KiwiMart. A beautiful compromise is there for the taking.

If there’s one thing every New Zealand politician agrees on it’s that they should be entitled to a generous accommodation supplement. But if there’s a second thing, it’s that groceries are too expensive. Unfortunately all of them have different ideas on how to fix the problem. For Labour, the answer appears to have transitioned from commissioning reports, shaking their heads gravely at their findings and introducing a smattering of technocratic reforms to banning price gouging. National yesterday promised to look at breaking up Foodstuffs  and has long been making encouraging noises in the direction of a new grocery sector entrant, but has so far fallen short on achieving actual material change. NZ First wants to break up the Foodstuffs-Woolworths duopoly. Act wants to reform planning laws. The Greens want to take a more direct route and establish a new government-owned KiwiMart.

Every few months, a party will put forward one of these proposals, at which point all the others take turns yelling at them. Right now NZ First is accusing the Greens of “communism by stealth” over their plan to requisition some of the country’s supermarkets to establish a state-owned grocery sector competitor. NZ First has been more tight-lipped about Winston Peters’ plan to buy the BNZ and establish a state-owned banking competitor though presumably it disapproves.

The recrimination is almost as predictable as the outcome, which is a lot more nothing. As our leaders bicker, we continue to by bankrupted just by looking at a block butter. But on September 1, a little-known political aspirant shared a video that could break the deadlock. Under the tantalising heading “Who can guess which Auckland supermarket this is (hint: 1993)”, Act’s Auckland Central candidate Antonia Modkova posted what might be some of the most expansive and detailed footage available of the now-defunct but still- much-loved supermarket Big Fresh.

Perhaps she wasn’t aware of its significance, but as someone who’s researched Big Fresh extensively, I can tell you Modkova’s footage of its animatronic fruit and veggies in their original 90s home is a rare treasure. Though the supermarket remains a core childhood touchstone for millennials, mainly thanks to the aforementioned moving anthropomorphic produce and the fact it offered free bread rolls, few records of it exist outside of a few ancient ads on YouTube and some poorly composed photos. Modkova’s family video is history. Not only that, it represents a sliver of political hope. “One of the first places my parents visited and filmed when they came to New Zealand was this supermarket,” she says in a voiceover. “They couldn’t wait to send it back to their friends and family in Bulgaria because they had never seen such an abundance of food – of choice.”

It’s true. Big Fresh represented abundance and choice, in stark contrast to today’s duopoly-ravaged foodscape. If Act is on board with its return, maybe other parties are too. Could bringing back New Zealand’s best supermarket be the unity proposal we’ve been waiting for? Labour is open to the possibility. Its consumer affairs spokesperson Arena Williams was direct when The Spinoff asked if the nation needs to bring back Big Fresh. “Big Fresh should be a part of a more competitive retail offering in New Zealand,” she said. “But there are barriers for new and existing stores becoming Big Fresh supermarkets. We’re looking at those closely.”

National was also tentatively on board. Finance minister Nicola Willis listed a host of reforms the government has been making to try to coax competition into the grocery sector, from giving supermarket developers an express lane in its fast-track legislation to reforming the building consent process for new grocery sellers. “Through these changes, perhaps we’ll see a new entrant emerging that resembles Big Fresh,” she said. “More competition and more choice are always good for New Zealand shoppers – and who knows, maybe that will come with giant singing carrots making a return to Kiwi supermarket aisles. Stranger things have happened.”

The Green Party was less willing to explicitly back Big Fresh’s return. Instead its co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick floated the possibility of incorporating elements of Big Fresh into the KiwiMarts she’d just announced. It was an appealing prospect, though disappointingly not one she was willing to mandate on a legislative level. “The inclusion of animatronic fruits and vegetables in KiwiMart stores will be an operational decision for KiwiMart management,” she said. “I hope KiwiMart will be as beloved by New Zealanders and Spinoff senior writers as Big Fresh was.”

Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong took aim at regulators over their failure to enforce Big Fresh or Big Fresh-adjacent offerings. “Clearly the Commerce Commission failed to recognise animatronics in their reports as the thing that would deliver more competition,” she said.

NZ First didn’t respond to The Spinoff’s messages. 

All up, the response to the idea of bringing back Big Fresh ranged from relatively positive to extremely positive. It’s been a tough few years for New Zealand, with the cost of living rising from high to stratospheric while the economy lies in the gutter in a pool of its own vomit. Thankfully, hope is on its way. It looks like a banana with sunglasses on, a block of cheese cutting its own head in two and a huge slightly depressed-looking pear. They’re all swaying back and forth on a shelf above an abundant array of fruit and vegetables, on sale at reasonable prices.