It’s true – avocados for just $0.09
A Christchurch greengrocer is selling avocados for just nine cents, which is 3 per cent of the cost you’d otherwise be paying at a supermarket.
Avocados across the country are selling for about $2. A Countdown special has them at $2.50 each, down from $2.75. Other greengrocers have avocados listed for $1.99.
But Vegeland, in suburban Christchurch, has been selling avocados for just 9¢ each.
There is a small catch, however. Staff at Vegeland said avocados reached such low prices occasionally, but only when there was stock to get rid of.
Co-owner Tony Kiesanowski said the super-low price came about because of an end-of-season glut, with his own chiller space filled up but plenty of stonefruit still for sale.
‘‘The last thing I wanted to do was have a couple of hundred crates filled with avocado sitting around taking up chiller space.’’
The 9¢ price was a way to clear space for new produce, he said, without letting any of it go to waste.
Kiesanowski said the shop had an excess of avocados after a supplier wasn’t able to sell all those it had and offered him a cheap deal.
‘‘Well, we’re not making a lot of money at 9¢, put it that way. Noone’s
making money on 9¢.’’
When the excess stock had been cleared, the price would be going back up, he said – but not by much. He said the price per avocado tended to be 29¢ to 49¢.
The 9¢ price came with a 10-apiece limit for shoppers, who he said had been making the most of the exceptionally low prices.
‘‘They come up with $1 and 10 avocados, and they still walk out with change.’’
Major supermarkets’ websites showed you couldn’t even buy a single avocado for 90¢ yesterday.
Kiesanowski and wife Brenda have been selling avocados for 35 years. He said the business had made it a habit to ‘‘sell as cheap as we can for the people of Christchurch’’.
He was expecting a change in price with new avocados coming in soon, but he said it would probably only be a 10¢ or 20¢ rise.
‘‘. . . We’re not making a lot of money at 9¢, put it that way. No one’s making money on 9¢.’’
Tony Kiesanowski, Vegeland co-owner