Popeyes and Tim Hortons are starting to open in the UK
Hell i’d settle for pret a manger
Supermarket giant Coles has announced it will sell hundreds of its Coles Express-branded petrol stations around Australia as the business focuses on its food and liquor offering.
Informing shareholders this morning, Coles said it will receive $300 million from the sale of the petrol stations to Viva Energy, which has been supplying fuel from its Geelong refinery.
All 710 Coles Express stations will be rebranded, but Coles customers will still have access to the four cent per litre fuel docket program, and Viva Energy will remain a partner of Flybuys.
The sale, if approved by regulators, is expected to be finalised by the second half of the financial year.
The sale is still pending approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
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All we need now is 7/11 to buy them… then there will literally be one on every street corner.
ACCC would probably block the sale to 7 Eleven as they did when Woolworths first started to offload their petrol devision. They just need to sell their alcohol devision and they would have copied Woolworths entirely.
Personally i would have kept BWS and Dan Murphy’s and sold the pub devision. That was where the bad press was coming from, not so much BWS and Dan Murphy’s. Given the pokie machines their hotel arm had.
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Will be interesting to see if the existing Coles Express shops will go unbranded / Shell branding only, or if Viva will start a new brand / acquire an existing brand that they also license the use of Shell servos to (e.g. Nightowl)
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They needed to own the hotels to own the take away liquor licenses.
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7-Eleven should be allowed to buy some Coles Express service stations, but only those located in Tasmania, SA and NT, given 7/11 doesn’t have any stores in these regions.
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Or can they continue to use the Coles Express branding even if they are owned by a different company?
They surely can, but this quote in the article indicates they aren’t
All 710 Coles Express stations will be rebranded
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I would say the large majority of BWS or Dan Murphy’s stores have no association with any Hotel licences. But yes historically yes they did need to have a pub for the take away sales but that is no longer the case.
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With exception to Queensland, where this is still a requirement, and also allows for looser trading hours permitted in other states. I doubt they’d want to exit the market in the 3rd most populated state in Australia, makes the business far less appealing.
I actually think that 7/11 should also be allowed to buy Coles Express stations in places in VIC without 7/11 as well as Tasmania, SA and NT (Bendigo, Traralgon etc.)
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There’s no indication that 7Eleven would want to expand in rural and regional Australia… remember when Mobil on-sold their retail network to 7Eleven years ago that all of the SA locations were on-sold to OTR.
They have started, in Victoria at least. 3 locations in Ballarat and 2 in Geelong. Certainly no outback but it’s something.
I assume they’d keep their Shell branding though, it would cost a fortune to rebrand completely (as we’re seeing with Caltex/Ampol).
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As well as 1 in Wodonga and Shepparton. Bendigo, Mildura and Tralagon meanwhile have none at all. I would like to see one in Bendigo.
I think the Coles Express sites have just had a recent forecourt refurb with the latest Shell signage and decals, so they’re mad if they don’t use the Shell brand.
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Try Colac of all places, bizarrely! Wouldn’t have thought it an epicenter of 7/11.
It seems that 7/11 is planning to launch new stores in Cairns/Townsville, as well as a big investment in Regional QLD as well:
“We are investing to open approximately 15 new stores in Cairns and Townsville over the next few years, and are scheduled to open stores in other regional centres including Gympie and Maryborough later in 2022.”
If Colac, Geelong, Ballarat, Albury/Wodonga and Shepparton have a 7/11, it is about time Bendigo gets one. Bendigo will be the biggest regional city without a 7/11 as well as the biggest town on the east coast without one, and the forth behind Darwin, Hobart and Adelaide. And in Victoria, all towns with a 35k population have a 7/11, except, you guessed it, Bendigo! I am sick and tired of missing out on it.