COMPETITION in the bread market has reached fever pitch but Jimboomba Bakery owner Holly Wilson is so far unfazed.
Independent bakers were rattled across Australia last week when Woolworths, Coles and Aldi lowered the price of their home brand bread loaves to just 85 cents.
The move prompted independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon to call for the reinstatement of anti-competitive price discrimination laws, saying the "discounting gimmick" would hurt the smaller businesses.
Ms Wilson however, said she did not expect the price drop to have any significant impact on her business.
"Our focus is quality, freshly made, preservative free bread," Ms Wilson said.
"There is quite a difference between discount bread and what we sell and we feel our customers recognise that."
Ms Wilson said the average cost of bread at her store was around $3.80 per loaf.
She said it "just wasn't viable" to use quality ingredients and then sell an 85 cent loaf without shortcuts.
She said she took pride in the products she sold and refused to compete with larger supermarkets in their price war.
"People that buy our bread wouldn't buy (the cheaper option) anyway," she said.
Local residents shared Ms Wilson's sentiments when the Jimboomba Times asked readers for their thoughts on the price drop last week.
Many said they preferred to buy bakery bread that "lasted longer".
North Maclean resident Brian Wenck said he liked knowing where his bread came from.
"I won't buy cheap bread when I can get a good quality loaf for $1.70 in North Maclean," he said.
Woolworths has claimed it lowered the bread price to help struggling Australian families.
