Picture this: you emerge from an hour-long blissful yoga flow – or all-out reformer class – and rejoin the outside world. Six steps to your right and you’re grabbing a New Paradigm coffee, smoked crispy chilli oil to have with eggs at home, a just-baked sesame and fenugreek loaf from AP Bakery, and a bunch of tulips.
Welcome to Goods, a “cafe/grocer/elevated corner store” from the Scout Pilates team, which recently opened in the street-facing part of its second studio, in the ex-Serendipity ice-cream factory digs in Marrickville.
It’s a wonderfully simple concept, inspired by Melbourne delis like Smith Street Alimentari and Andrew McConnell’s fancy grocer Morning Market. And Sydney’s all for it: “We had a bumper [opening] weekend,” owner Lucy Beaumont tells Broadsheet. “This is my favourite way to shop; [I’m] happy to spend $20 on a cool hot sauce – it's a little luxury, making dinners taste great for a month – or a beautiful gift for a friend.”
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SIGN UPAlthough the space easily calls for a sit-in situation that, without neighbouring competition, people will flock to, Beaumont avoided a park-up-for-the-morning, full-menu affair. “I’m a real foodie, but I don’t come from a hospitality background – I didn’t want to dive into producing eggs on toast.”
Beaumont hand-selects the goods along with friend Sophie McComas, who is co-director of food-focused creative studio Buffet Digital, and a former Broadsheet Sydney editor. The pair focus on local producers, bringing together treats from Tuga Pastries, cacio e pepe packs by Fabbrica, Whole Beast Butchery cuts and Yulli’s vegan curries. There’s also Saturday Night Pasta dirty martini sauce and dried pipette, and Bippi’s red-hot Italian condiments – plus stacks of salty and sweet snacks. A drinks fridge offers Good Ways’ coveted iced Milos.
But there are also items from further afield. “My favourite is Yiayia and Friends [from Thessaloniki, Greece] – they’re beautiful bottles of Greek olive oils and balsamic vinegars. I made a pesto with the olive oil, and it was the best pesto I’ve ever made.”
The Marrickville studio opened for classes in autumn, with the new shop completing the build. “It was the intention from quite early. The space is massive and Scout didn’t need all of it.”
Asked whether her shoppers are just a flood of post-Pilates patrons looking for caffeine, Beaumont observes there’s been a mix of Scout clients and the less exercise-inclined. But it’s been a savvy business model: “Literally everyone goes to class and then gets a coffee on their way out.”
The space is opposite Enmore Park, and the team has picnic packs in the works for the glorious warmth heading our way. How good.
Goods
333A Enmore Road, Marrickville
Hours
Mon to Thu 6.30am–4.30pm
Fri & Sat 6.30am–4pm
Sun 7.30am–4pm