The Italian Fresh Mercato opened its doors for the very first time on Thursday, with hundreds of Griffith residents having already made the trip to Griffith Central to test it out.

Store manager Luigi Dalessandro describes the supermarket as a "one-stop shop" which aims to offer something different through its extensive selection of unique Italian food products.

"We've got our own cafe at the front, we've got a bakery making our own cakes, breads and pizzas, we've got a deli with meats you can't get anywhere else in Griffith," Mr Dalessandro said.

"And of course we've got the 'Gourmet Italian' aisle, which is all unique pastas, sauces, biscuits."

Mr Dalessandro said it had been a gruelling year-long process to get the store designed and ready to open, but seeing the first crowd of customers surge into the store made it all worthwhile.

"Blood, sweat and tears have gone into it but we're really happy with how it has all turned out," he said.

"We've been very surprised by the community support. We had a little soft opening on Thursday and we thought we would have 20 or 30 people but it ended up being about 180 in our first hour."

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As well as the cafe, deli and bakery, the supermarket also has all the traditional groceries you would expect in an Australian supermarket as well as a liquor store selling all the region's most popular wines.

Mr Dalessandro said the market has big plans for the liquor store, including regular wine tastings.

The supermarket was originally tauted to open in November 2020, but this was delayed due to a desire to make sure everything was available from the first day.

"Everyone has been asking when is it opening, when is it opening, when is it opening?" Mr Dalessandro laughed.

"We didn't want to open a shop that didn't have everything so we put it back a bit."

"But now that it's set up we're really happy with the finished product."

The Italian Fresh Mercato can be found in the Griffith Central shopping centre, in the space previously occupied by Richies IGA before it closed.

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