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Woolworths Supermarkets

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For other uses, see Woolworth's.
Woolworths/Safeway Supermarkets
Company typeSupermarket
IndustryRetail
Founded1924
HeadquartersAustralia Sydney, Australia
Key people
Australia Michael Luscombe, CEO
RevenueIncrease$32.453 billion AUD (2006)
Number of employees
145,000 (2006)
Websitewww.woolworths.com.au
The exterior of a Woolworths supermarket in Southlands Boulevarde, Willetton, Western Australia.
A small, suburban Woolworths supermarket in Charnwood, Australian Capital Territory.

Woolworths, is the largest supermarket chain in Australia, owned by Woolworths Limited. It is colloquially known as Woolies. In Victoria, it trades under the name Safeway.

History

Woolworths supermarkets started over eighty years ago in a basement store in Sydney. Since then, Woolworths has expanded into almost every metropolitan and regional area of Australia.

Woolworths Supermarkets are part of the wider Woolworths Limited Group, the second largest private employer in Australia with over 320,000 shareholders.

1920s

In the December of 1924, Woolworths opened its first ever store in the old Imperial Arcade in Pitt Street, Sydney. This store was called the Woolworths Stupendous Bargain Basement.

1930s & 1940s

Woolworths expanded rapidly soon acquired a chain of stores, 31 in Australia and 9 in New Zealand. Twenty-five new Woolworths stores opened in the first months of World War II.

1960s & 1970s

During this period Woolworths started offering low cost products to rural Australia, particularly in remote areas such as Alice Springs and Darwin. Woolworths diversified into fresh food which led to the opening of Woolworths first Food Fair store, which soon become one of Australia's biggest retailers of fresh fruit and vegetables.

1980s

During the 1980s Woolworths adopted the "Fresh Food People" slogan that is still in use today. In 1985, Woolworths acquired the Australian stores of American company Safeway Inc. At this time, Woolworths was the market leader in grocery sales, serving up to 10 million customers per week. In two years, profit rose from $8 million to $136 million.

1990s

In 1993, the $2.45 billion Woolworths share float was the biggest in Australia's history. The one billion shares on offer were purchased by more than 33,000 investors, including 19,000 Woolworths employees.

Early 2000

The Purity and Roelf Vos stores were renamed Woolworths.

2000s

By 2006, Woolworths had over 13 million customers in over 750 supermarkets every week and profits for the group exceeded $1 billion for the first time. On January 23rd 2007, Woolworths Supermarkets donated the profits for the day to the Country Women's Association.

In late 2006 Woolworths started the roll-out of an upgraded point of sale system including running-total display and pictorial operator menus for produce and bulky items.

Advertising

Woolworths advertises through TV, radio, newspapers, catalogues, on their website and in-store. The main slogan Woolworths has been using since the 1980s has been "The Fresh Food People" which is used prominently as part of their logo. Safeway, Purity and Roelf Vos also used the slogan as part of their logo. In the early 1990s, an advertising campaign for Woolworths was launched with an advertising jingle that continues today. However, when Woolworths introduced its second slogan "Bringing food to life", that was replaced with a newer one which used both slogans in their jingle. That slogan was eventually dropped and soon after that, reverted back to the original jingle. In late 2005, a new second slogan "Low prices you can count on everyday" was launched. As of 2007, that second slogan has changed to "Low prices you can count on".

Frequent Shopper Club

The Frequent Shopper Club or F$C is a reward program for shopping in Woolworths stores in Tasmania. It was started by Purity Supermarkets in the early 1990's before it was sold to Woolworths in the 1990s and is still in use today.

Other Woolworths Brands

Past Woolworths Brands

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