A Coles store near me at my local shopping centre, Southpoint in Hillsdale. closed recently. It opened around 12 years ago and stayed in a time warp ever since then, with almost no customers. They should have closed it 10 years ago, but obviously stayed open for the sole purposes of saving face.
Woolies has always attracted far more customers. Apparently Centre Management haven’t gotten the message based on this Facebook post, which was posted on the day of Coles being closed:
About 16 years ago, there used to be a Franklins Big Fresh in the old 1960s-era Southpoint centre, which then became a Bi-Lo. Then they knocked the entire shopping centre down, except for the Woolworths (which remained open throughout construction and remains open in its original 1960s structure - it was the only Woolies in the area until the one at Eastgardens opened) and then rebuilt the rest of the shopping centre with a MASSIVE apartment complex above the top.
Can’t find too many photos of it online (which shows how poor in terms of patronage it was), but here’s one from the shopping centre’s Facebook page. I’ve drawn arrows highlighting some elements which haven’t been seen in most Coles stores for the past five to ten years - the ancient aisle signage, the massively old ‘bakery’ signs above the bread racks, the massively ancient sign over the Deli, and the overhead strip above the entry/checkout area. There were around 15 checkouts (non self-serve), when they only would have needed 5 with a Christmas Eve shopping crowd.
I reckon the positioning of Coles was its major downfall. Woolworths was located directly next to the car park entrances, whereas Coles was hidden behind the centre’s food court, which basically meant it was the deadest Coles I had ever walked into. Literally the only customer there. The shopping centre itself is really poorly designed. There are massive dead zones where there’s no exit other than the way you came in. I think Pacific Square in Maroubra has the same problem with the Coles there. The dark blue shops in this map show the vacancies, but are out of date - shops 15, 17 and Coles are now also vacant.
