It’ll be interesting to see what will happen to their Queensland sites. Mobil, Ampol and I think Shell were providing fuel for a few of their sites. If the later 2 buys those sites, you’d expect those to be rebranded to Ampol Foodary and Coles Express (or Liberty) reasonably quickly.
There’s talk that David Jones is leaving the recently renovated Karrinyup Shopping Centre in Perth in 2023.
The expansion now means the store is surrounded by malls on all sides, which paves the way for the store to be divided up for smaller retailers.
Karrinyup has become the 2nd biggest centre in Perth at 110,000 sqm and 300 stores.
Would be the end of an era. David Jones/Aherns has been at Karrinyup for nearly 50 years.
What is the biggest? Westfield Carousel?
Like Highpoint, and Kmart moves into DJ’s perhaps?
Should that happen, then maybe DJs might think about setting up shop in other locations such as Morley and either Whitford City or Ocean Keys. I just hope Claremont Quarter will not be the only NOR Store left (Though Claremont is Considered as Western Suburbs).
Doubt we’ll be getting a new WA David Jones (and Myer), at least for a long time (Outside of the relocated Booragoon one). Innaloo was meant to have one, which I think is why the Karrinyup one is closing in the first place, and I have no idea what happened to Whitford City (any signs of a stage 2 has been silent since 2020).
In Sydney on the weekend, and it appears the new Woolworths Town Hall Referb, and the new BIGW store above it opens tomorrow. Will be interesting to see how the BIGW looks as its more like a KHub right?
I always think the upper floors of Woolworths Town Hall have been under utilised and have less foot traffic. Hopefully a new Big W store will change all that.
I heard that the existing Booragoon store will be refurbished inside and the Karrinyup lease has been renewed and will be refurbished. That gives me hope of more DJs stores than Myer in Western Australia.
The checkout person at Woolworths said its only one floor, so I assume its only like a quarter of the normal size, reminds me of the smaller Kmart Hub stores.
I wonder what is on all those other floors above. They could have done a 2 or 3 story like BIGW, like shops do in cities like New York, scattered across many floors.
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I’d suggest the CAPEX to completely gut, modernise and renovate / fit-out those upper floors is too high for it to be viable, whereas the single floor is really just a reconfiguration of the variety section that was effectively Big W in all but name in terms of product and range.
As seen on both Seven and Nine News Melbourne (locally, the opening of the Delahey store, in the north-west, was anticipated.)
Flicking through the catalogue it looks just like a normal supermarket, half price this and that, offer to me.
They try and spin the old “we buy in bulk and pass savings on bs” Generally IGA gets the least favourable deals from suppliers considering it size, vs competitors, which is why I don’t shop in that place, everything is about 10-15% more.
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And Metcash needs to take a slice too
The Booragoon one will be relocated entirely and not just a refurbishment on the existing space. It will also be cut down to one floor, but still be slightly larger than the existing store (as the development application suggests).
As for Karrinyup, a recent report mentions they are in talks with brands like Gucci, to bring more luxury retailers into the centre. While it doesn’t mention where these stores will be, a previous pdf shows both David Jones floors being reconfigured to include multiple smaller stores and new walkways, which would be a perfect fit for these stores. It’ll be interesting to see what happens though.
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Interesting that they’re using a trademark / brand (Supa Valu) they picked up from the FAL Acquisition in WA almost 20 years ago
Metcash owned large format IGA stores have historically done poorly.
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I was going to mention about the SupaValu brand. Took me back a few years!
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I was in the Woolworths flagship store yesterday opposite Sydney Town Hall. The Ground floor and Lower Ground have had more shelving added and fridges installed so it is even more like a supermarket now.
Signs pointing to upper levels reveal Big W is coming soon.
Interesting to see Big W open a much smaller store that focuses on convenience. I think this could actually work well in other cities around Australia depending on the results of the Town Hall store. Woolworths still seems to be pushing their Metro stores too.
Bigw already have a store in Melbourne and Brisbane cities, however full size. Probably the only other centres really worthy of a store like this. Adelaide and Perth both have a Kmart from memory in the city.
Not sure what other high volume small cities could handle one. I mean Kmart Hub is probably already there.