Positive call to fill Woolies site

A YEAR since the iconic Woolworths chain fell into administration, Lynn's store - the flagship shop of the Vancouver Quarter - still remains empty.

Talking about the large empty premises, leader of West Norfolk Council, Nick Daubney, told the Lynn News: "I would think it would be a good thing that the space is filled and I hope it will be in the future.

"It is a big space and I know that major stores must be obviously nervous under current trading conditions, but Lynn has proved itself to be a vibrant centre so I hope that is a big attraction for other businesses."

Woolworths opened on New Conduit Street in March 2006, offering 45 full and part-time jobs but it shut, along with the Fakenham, Swaffham and Hunstanton branches, two months after the company went into administration in November 2008.

The Lynn News made several attempts to contact Vancouver Quarter manager Brad Curcillo but he was unavailable to comment.

In Hunstanton 15 jobs were lost, 21 jobs went in Fakenham and the Swaffham closure made 24 staff redundant.

The company, which had been struggling with debts of £385m, was taken over by administrators Deloitte.

The Warehouse Clearance Shop moved into the Fakenham site, on the Market Place, in May last year on a rolling license, creating about five jobs.

Will Bowers, a representative of Wildmoor Property, the site landlord, said: "It is very successful. It will be there certainly for the near future."

The old Swaffham Woolworths premises, also on the Market Place, was taken over by frozen food chain Iceland in January last year, which has proved to be a success. In total 23 positions were created from this move.

Dennis Tallon, manager of Swaffham community group the Iceni Partnership, confirmed: "Apparently it is doing extremely well. It's also brought in trade to other shops in the town. It is very positive."

Despite Hunstanton's Warehouse Clearance Shop - which replaced the Woolworths in January last year - shutting, the Lynn News has learned that the clothes shop M&Co, previously known as Mackays, will possibly be moving onto the site. However, the legal process has not been completed.

Paul Beal, chairman of Hunstanton Chamber of Trade, said: "It is super. If they are coming, a multinational business could pave the way for somebody else. It could be the start of something big."

Hunstanton Town Mayor, Cllr Christine Earnshaw, added: "It could be a real bonus. I think it is the ideal shop for the High Street."

Woolworths profit climbs 13%, positive outlook

Woolworths Limited (WOW) reported a net profit to $1.835 billion for the year ended 28 June, up a 12.8% from the prior year. The diversified retailer sold almost $1 billion worth of goods a week as solid growth was recorded across all key financial measures.

Looking ahead the group said it was expecting the strong sales growth to taper off in the current year without the positive effects of the government stimulus package and the influence of macro-economic factors such as the anticipated increase in interest rates in calendar 2010.

Mindful of this Woolworths said it expected group sales to grow in the upper single digits, while EBIT would grow faster than sales.

Net profit next year would grow in the range of between 8% to 11% Woolworths said.

Woolworths added, however, that the recently released hardware strategy had not been factored into forecast figures.

For the year to 28 June 2009, many of the key economic measures increased between 10% and 15%, including an 11.5% increase in EBITDA, an 11.7% increase in earnings per share and a 13% increase in the annual dividend to $1.04 per share.

Woolworths said the strong sales growth was recorded as the retailer reinvents its brands and refurbishes it stores. Currrently around 40% of Australian supermarkets have had a new format rolled out.

The group said the core the company’s future growth strategy was underpinned by refurbishment of its stores.

”Our long term cost advantages obtained under Project Refresh will be maintained and increased,” the company said.

Despite the core supermarket dominance of Woolworths, which with Coles has around an 80% market share, the retailer said it had room to grow across all its businesses.

Some of key drivers to successful expansion included through bolt-on acquisitions such as Macro Wholefoods and sourcing the goods from overseas, and investing in and leveraging supply chain expertise.

Furthermore, over the course of the year Woolworths opened 28 new supermarkets in Australia, with 21 new petrol stations.

Commenting on the result for the year chairman James Strong said the result was a good one in a difficult economic environment.

“Woolworths has a clear strategy well executed by an experienced team, which has underpinned this year’s result. The year has seen significant global economic challenges that will continue in the near term,” Mr Strong said.

”Woolworths is well positioned going forward and will continue to invest to develop both core and new business opportunities.”

Looking across the company’s divisions the Australian supermarket division was a standout performer, with EBIT climbing 17%.

BIG W EBIT also surged 25.9% as retailers turned to cheaper alternatives in difficult economic times.

The consumer electronics division fell 18% in total.

Meanwhile, Woolworths last year sold $5.2 billion worth of alcohol, almost the same as the total petrol sales at $5.5 billion.

Commenting on the dividend payout Mr Strong said the 13.0% increase in dividend per share to 104c from 92c in FY08 reflected the confidence that the Board has in the company’s operations, results and the continued focus to provide improved shareholder returns.

At the close of business Wednesday, Woolworths shares were up 7c to $28.70.

Farewell to Safeway

The much-loved Safeway brand in Victoria is to be abolished.

Parent company Woolworths Limited have decided to progressively re-brand all 129 Victorian supermarkets in the coming 12 months. Coinciding with this decision is the announcement that a new Woolworths logo has been developed, but the “Fresh Food People” moniker will remain.

Safeway was launched in Melbourne in 1963 when the American chain of the same name bought three locally-owned supermarkets and established Australian Safeway Stores Pty Ltd. Competing locally with rival Woolworths, Safeway slowly expanded into New South Wales and Queensland whilst Woolworths continued to expand in Victoria. In 1985, Safeway Inc. sold all of its Australian operations to Woolworths and the two supermarket chains merged. At the time, Safeway was considered to be a stronger brand and so the decision was made to that all Victorian stores would be named Safeway whilst the New South Wales and Queensland stores became Woolworths. And so it was until now.

Of course this re-naming process is not new to Tasmanians. In a situation reminiscent of the Victorian Safeway saga, Woolworths had been operating separate Roelf Vos and Purity brands (depending on which part of Tasmania they were located) since the two Tasmanian supermarket chains were acquired in the mid-1980’s. All supermarket brands were advertised as “The Fresh Food People” after 1986 and shared a common marketing strategy, which meant that national advertising jingles and campaigns had to be re-worked to fit in with the Roelf Vos and Purity identities. Eventually Woolworths came to the realisation that operating four nearly-identical brands was sheer madness and so in was in 2000 that Roelf Vos and Purity became history.

In the context of that upheaval, it remained a mystery why it was that Safeway was preserved where Roelf Vos and Purity hit the chopping block. I guess we all knew that it was simply a matter of time before Safeway suffered the same fate. Anyone who’s been into Safeway lately would have seen the subtle signs… all the own-brand products have been labelled as “Woolworths” rather than “Safeway” for quite some time.

It’s the end of an era for sure… farewell Safeway.