Except for a few discounted items, the shelves of North Road IGA were bare on Monday as the supermarket closed to make way for future tenants Spudshed.

Russell Poliwka, who has owned the North Road Shopping Centre for the past 30 years, confirmed to the Advertiser on Tuesday he has sold the complex to WA’s spud king, Tony Galati.

“My understanding of the current situation is that the IGA shop will be moving out and Mr Galati’s Spudshed will be established in there, which for Albany will be an absolute bonus,” he said.

“Tony’s one of the best operators in the State, obviously.

“He grows his own produce in many cases right across the line, and he also is probably the most economic sort of operator of supermarkets.

“He’s hands on, he’s West Australian, and he’s a major player in the industry, and he will still keep growing.”

Mr Poliwka’s location confirmation marks the airing of the city’s worst-kept secret, with many already suspecting the North Road complex was to be the site of the popular WA-grown grocer.

For the past month, the complex’s anchor tenant North Road Fine Food Market IGA was selling all stock, bar cigarettes, at a 40 per cent discount in order to clear out in preparation for its end-of-financial year closure date.

On Monday, its last day of trading, only a few reduced-price items remained on shelves, as the fresh produce, dairy, frozen food and much of the aisles were cleaned out in preparation for renovations.

Dress store Chloe’s on North, and Zhivago Cafe both closed up within the past month, and while the newsagency Front Page News is still trading, the store has been emptied of its various magazines, stationery and giftware.

Businesses still operating within the centre presently are the Bottle-O, Natural Image Hair and Beauty Salon, Mister Money, the Little Asian Grocery and Prestige Real Estate.

Chloe’s on North posted a heartfelt goodbye to their loyal customers on June 19.

“They say all good things must come to an end, and after 20 years of CON and our predecessor retail outlets, the time has come for us to close our doors,” their Facebook post reads.

“What started as a fun venture into retail and small business with my Mum has been such a special chapter of my life.

“To our wonderful and ever-growing Albany customer base, and to every loyal customer who has supported us over the years — thank you.”

Mr Galati first flagged an Albany branch of the WA-grown supermarket in 2018, but officially confirmed the rumours in December last year.

Alongside the bushy eyebrows and trademark attire of its famous founder, the independent supermarket is known for its extended operating hours, with 15 of its 19 stores across the State open 24-7.

When open, the Albany store will be the 20th branch of Spudshed.

While admitting he didn’t quite get the price he was after, Mr Poliwka said he made a decision that would look after the current staff, generate foot traffic for other tenants and install a reliable anchor business that would benefit the city.

“We got what we think is a win-win price, and it gives the new owner the opportunity to spend some capital and bring the store back up to a standard which the public today expects,”he said.

“It won’t happen overnight; it’ll take a couple of months to bed himself down, get his shop operating, and I think he might expand the area as well of the actual supermarket, which again will engender more, more variety, more options.

“It’s an old sort of complex, so his intervention at this time, I think, is exceptionally, exceptionally valuable for the town and everybody else associated.”