i thought Woolworths uses caltex for there fuel???
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They do, but sold the petrol retail business to EG.
I imagine theyâd keep the brand for the term of the agreement, 15 years.
With fuel gone there is only one business left to get rid off. Although they will probably blow half the Petrol funds trying to get rid of it.
lol, half is generous.
I have no doubt theyâll very slowly shut down Big W as lease liabilities start to ease (cause lets be honest, thatâs the main reason they havenât given up on it). The third of stores reported a few weeks ago will only be the beginning.
If an interested party had approached them theyâd have sold the business by now.
between the talk of Big W and Target shutting stores, thereâll be some very nervous landlords/centre operators - these stores are considerable floor space in centres that will be hard to fill
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Itâs been losing 150 odd mill a year so if it rolls on for a few more years 500mil then a billion chopping half the fleet. There goes the fuel money!
Still financially better then closing it which was rumored 4-5billion. Itâs just a mass distraction and financially draining
Iâm not convinced Target is in any better position either.
By all means yes, youâd hope theyâve looked to what has happened in the US in recent years and worked out what theyâd do if we suddenly had an anchor or two go out of business. By all means are the likes of Westfield trying to future proof centres during refurbishments so that losing an anchor wouldnât have a massive impact.
Probably more when you consider both lease & employee liabilities.
At least Wesfarmers can stem the bleeding and convert a signifcant number of them to K-Mart.
What to do with the rest though⌠they donât seem to know any more than Woolies knows what to do with Big W. I still think Wesfarmers should have given the new Target store concept a longer chance at working out, theyâd barely operated for a year when Russo came in and ordered all the things they were trying (in store screenprinting / t-shirt making, in store cafe, amongst other things) removed.
Kmart has taken over a lot of recent BIGW closures so Iâd imagine they would chase some more considering Targets problems are probably more Target country/old stores/small store related, where Kmart probably wouldnât go.
Kmart has picked up Bigwâs sites in Griffith/Coffs/Stafford/Endevour Hills.
I saw bigw is opening on Sunshine Coast next month so they are still signing leases? Very odd.
Youâd have to imagine that Target stores in shopping centres without a K-Mart would eventually undergo a conversion?
Admittedly I havenât visited this place for many years now, but Westfield Liverpool is one that has a Big W & Target but to the best of my knowledge, never had a K-Mart. I could be wrong in the end, but doing a Target > K-Mart conversion in one of the biggest shopping centres in South Western Sydney probably makes a lot of sense when itâs already been done at considerably smaller centres like Bass Hill Plaza.
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The interesting thing is Target to Kmart conversion one would expect growth and fast track to profit.
As a WES shareholder I was listening in to a results call last year and Russo stated he put the brakes on a lot of conversions as he wasnât happy with a few of them, they were going backwards and they were studying the data in why/how. One went great then the next few went negative. Most defiantly we have not seen many conversions since and there has been more talk of Target abandoning leases than Kmart holding it.
DDS is such a complex and volatile market.
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It opens this Thursday, the store at Nambour could be on the chopping block.
Being a relatively small market, there hasnât been too much of this happen in Canberra, but to my knowledge over the years:
- Franklins - replaced in one centre by Dan Murphyâs, and another by Best and Less and an independent supermarket
- Borders - Replaced by Rebel, second planned store replaced by Harris Scarfe
- Toys R Us - Both sites still empty
- Dick Smith - A couple of the larger stores taken over by Cotton On and H&M
- One Myer store (two floors) was closed, replaced by Big W on one floor and JB Hifi, Harris Scarfe, The Reject Shop, and a couple of smaller retailers on the other.
- A second Myer across three floors is also set to close, with no announcement on how Westfield will use the space. That centre has pretty much all the majors and mini majors already, except for Big W, so thatâll be interesting.
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Did Canberra lose TWO Myer stores?
I did hear that the one at Westfield Belconnen was to close, which is the other?
Itâs the smaller markets that will be difficult to replace these majors in - I canât see the likes of Uniqlo or H&M with their larger footprint stores start expanding into some of the areas where Big W or Target depart
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Belconnen is set to close this year, Tuggeranong closed a few years back. Plans for a Woden store were dropped, which just leaves Civic.
There was a store just over the border in Queanbeyan, but that was converted to Target during the Coles Myer era.
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The Toys R Us in Frankston has already been taken over by Rebel Sport.
Why such a huge store in Mentone though? It seems like an odd spot and odd direction for Officeworks to take.
The one in Chadstone became the Catch of the Day store just before Christmas.
I noticed a few weeks ago that the old Masters store on Toorak road that has just been sitting there has now been converted into an Anaconda. It is a really weird set up though cos from the outside it looks like the whole building is a big Anaconda, but they make you drive through the underground carpark to the little carpark out front and when you walk in the Anaconda store is a tiny little set up looking quite temporarily walled off in the middle of the big open warehouse space. So Iâm not sure if itâs just there temporarily or if they plan to add other shops in there too but the whole building out front is branded as Anaconda. It was quite dead when I was there on a Friday night⌠maybe 3 other customers in the store so they are possibly testing it out before they decided to expand it into a big permanent store there or not.
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Some pics of the new Big W at Sunshine Plaza, did overhear one of the managers say that this was one of 2 new concept stores.
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Maybe Officeworks has taken over the old Masters store there?
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Waaaaay too dark.
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