Wholefoods grocer About Life brings paleo lunches and ginger-turmeric lattes to Port Melbourne. Photo: Supplied
When is a supermarket not a supermarket? When it's a "holistic lifestyle hub". That's the claim from Melbourne's first About Life store, a one-stop-shop for fancy groceries that has recently opened on Bay Street, Port Melbourne.
Until a month ago the space housed Thomas Dux, and inner Melbourne isn't short on premium grocery stores. But independently owned About Life is shooting for a point of difference: you don't just shop – you consult "roaming wellness experts" (a sort of sales assistant-naturopath) in the activated almond aisle, or put your feet up with a ginger and turmeric latte in the adjoining wholefoods cafe.
The chain started out as a juice bar in Sydney's Rozelle in 1996 (there are now six stores in Sydney). After 20 years in business, its buying power is substantial, with home-brand versions of many organic lines: everything from potato chips to coconut water, and an About Life-branded organic milk.
The Port Melbourne location is the sixth About Life store, and the first outside Sydney. Photo: Chris Hopkins
It is primarily an ethical grocery store, so pack a green bag full of (mostly) organic, chemical-free superfood staples to cook at home (the fruit and veg section helpfully lists town of origin) or a cardboard box full of self-serve salads, spiralised carrot noodles, and a raw lasagne that ticks every dietary requirement imaginable: it's gluten- and dairy-free, vegan, paleo and even "supercharged".
But it's not preachy, the home-brand system keeps it reasonably affordable and the company has eyes on other Melbourne suburbs.
Open daily 7am-8pm.
120 Bay Street, Port Melbourne, 1300 434 154, aboutlife.com.au
