This just in from the Herald Sun:
Coles Down Down campaign shelved
Coles takes a break from ‘Down Down’ TV campaign
Must be looking at a different strategy now that Woolworths is back on top.
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Down Down campaign is down
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One could say the Down Down campaign worked as Coles did go down…
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What campaign could replace Down Down prices are down?
‘Check out the good things at Coles New World’?
I do. When I grew up as a young kid in Hong Kong in the 1980s there were four Japanese department stores in the city with Daimaru the oldest, having opened in 1960 (it closed in 1998). I migrated to Melbourne in 1988 and three years later Daimaru announced it was opening its first Australian store at Melbourne Central.
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Can’t forget good old Action and Dewson’s, as well as Supa Valu! They used to be so hugely common until around 2006 when they were all mostly converted into Supa IGA’s. It was a surprise to see the Action at Ballajura in Perth become an Supa IGA when all the signage had changed.
And is it just me, or did there used to still be some BI-LO stores in WA in the early 2000s? Because I swear I saw a store once, though that could be endless hours of watching Huey’s Cooking Adventures confusing me. 
Billy Guyatts.
Copperart.
Sizzler.
Barnacle Bill’s.
McEwans.
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Still a few Sizzlers going in Qld
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Stan Cash, the tin shed cowboy is still going, at least in Brooklyn.
Bi-Lo was Newmart in WA, Coles absorbed most of them and they sold the rest to FAL to be rebadged as Action if it was in the same shopping centre as an existing Coles or too close to an existing Coles. Happened around 2001-2002 IIRC.
For the others you refer to they were all brands owned by FAL, who mostly sold out to IGA and part to Woolworths (NZ Supermarkets and most of the Action store network) in 2007.
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I used to make TV commercials for Billy Guyatts at one stage…
“Can you make the words bigger, please?”
“Can you make the read harder sell? No harder”
“Can you make it more yellow?” You had to see it to believe how finicky someone could be over very simple commercials.
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Nothing has changed, really.
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Barnacle Bills still going in SA
If they had not broke the lease it would have been around until at least 2016!
Way before my time but I’m glad that’s a big shopping centre now!
Meanwhile. Target Country Ocean Grove is now a Target, very plain inside and that’s the third or so refurb in about ten years!
Yes, I have read that BI-LO in WA was Newmart until the Newmart name was ditched in favour of the Coles brand. I found a very old Newmart trolley in Mirrabooka back in 2016 (it’s somewhere in the discussion here around August of that year), does that mean the Progressive Action at Mirrabooka was once a Newmart (there is images of it as a regular Action), or were there any other Newmart locations you can recall, because there is no infomation from what I can find.
And just as a side note, someone has created a FAL Facebook page, filled with photo memorabilia of FAL Brands, including some Ads: Foodland Associated Limited - Metcash Food & Grocery WA | Perth WA
Here’s a list as of 2002, which was the last full year of operation IIRC.
I don’t think there was ever one at Mirrabooka, that was an Action before becoming a Progressive Supa IGA (before that also closed).
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Yea, didn’t think so, as I mentioned before there was an image of it as a regular Action, then it became a Progressive Action, and then finally a Progressive Supa IGA before completely changing to a Reject Shop:
Wonder how it ended up in Mirrabooka then…
Also, there was a Newmart in Alexander Heights? As far as I know, it was always a Coles, going back through the Alexander Heights Shopping Centre’s website as far back as 1998 has it listed as a Coles! Unless there was another store inside the centre. Though I also found a Action trolley there too, and the Woolworths’ layout currently is very similar to Action’s, but even back in 1998 it was a Woolworths. Hrm… 
The Woolies was an Action. Similar situation with Ocean Keys and Garden City where the centres had Coles and Newmart supermarkets.
Yes, I knew it had to be that, had a feeling! 
So what time frame was the Action converted into a Woolworths? Because as I mentioned, even back on the website it was a Woolworths, so that trolley must be very old… 
Also I made a mistake, the website appears to go only as far back as 2004.
Just like Safeway became Woolworths in New South Wales ahead of other places that seemed to hang on to that identity for much longer.