Woolworths New Zealand Limited (formerly Progressive Enterprises) is the second largest grocery company in New Zealand (behind

Foodstuffs Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ing ...

), with revenue of NZ$6.2 billion for the year to June 2018. Alongside Foodstuffs, Woolworths NZ forms part of the New Zealand supermarket duopoly. Progressive Enterprises Limited was once owned by the Western Australian Supermarket Group FAL – Foodland Associated Limited which operated Action Supermarkets, Supa Valu Supermarkets and Dewsons Supermarkets. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian

Woolworths Group Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

History

* 1948: Progressive Enterprises Limited was established on 9 February 1949 by the Picot family. * 1961: Progressive Enterprises became the parent company to Foodtown Supermarkets Limited. * 1974:

Albert Gubay Albert Gubay, Order of St. Gregory the Great, KC*SG (9 April 1928 – 5 January 2016) was a Welsh businessman and philanthropist, who made his fortune with the Kwik Save retail chain, building it further on investments, mainly in property develo ...

opens the first 3Guys store. Progressive Enterprises purchased the chain in 1987, and rebranded or closed them throughout the 1990s with the store in Hillcrest,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

being one of the last when it closed in January 1998. * 1988: Progressive Enterprises became part of Australian business

Coles Myer Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of li ...

* 1992: Coles Myer relaunched Progressive Enterprises onto the New Zealand stock exchange as a public company. On 25 May 2005, it was announced that Woolworths Limited, one of Australia's largest retailers, would be purchasing Progressive Enterprises along with 22 Action stores in Australia. The deal was worth approximately NZ$2.5 billion and culminated in the official transfer of assets on 24 November 2005. In 2006, company workers at three distribution centres initiated industrial action in an attempt to win a collective employment agreement and pay rise. The company responded by suspending grocery distribution centre operations and allowing suppliers to send stock directly to supermarkets. Also in 2006, the company was awarded the Roger Award For The Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in New Zealand. On 15 August 2007, Progressive Enterprises announced employees on youth rates or under the age of 18 would get paid adult rates, which in some cases can be up to an 80% pay increase. The average pay increased from $9.00 to $13.50. In August 2011, Progressive Enterprises won a marketing award. On 22 June 2018, Progressive Enterprise Limited renamed to Woolworths New Zealand Limited.

Store brands

Woolworths NZ runs the following

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

chains: *

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

: 184 supermarket stores * SuperValue: 40 stores – convenience supermarket stores, run as a franchise *

FreshChoice FreshChoice is a franchise of locally owned and operated supermarkets across New Zealand. The stores are operated under franchise agreements with Wholesale Distributors Ltd (WDL), a division of Woolworths New Zealand Woolworths New Zeala ...

: 30 stores – Higher quality supermarket with a large range, run as a franchise It operates online grocery shopping in the name of Countdown.Countdown Online Shopping
/ref>

Former operations

3 Guys 3 Guys (also operating as Gubays) was a New Zealand, Irish and US supermarket chain that operated between 1973 and 2003. History Albert Gubay era Albert Gubay established the supermarket chain while living in New Zealand from January 1973 to ...

(also known as Gubays) *

Big Fresh Big Fresh was a New Zealand supermarket chain. The first Big Fresh store opened in 1988 in Mount Wellington, Auckland. In 2003, the Big Fresh brand was shut-down by its owner Progressive Enterprises, with branches converted to Countdown or W ...

Price Chopper Price Chopper may refer to: United States * Price Chopper (Northeastern United States), a supermarket chain based in Schenectady, New York, with stores in eastern United States ** Price Chopper Tour Championship, a golf tournament in the Albany, ...

Georgie Pie Georgie Pie was a fast food chain owned by retailer Progressive Enterprises specialising in meat pies that hoped to be "New Zealand’s own homegrown alternative to the global fast-food industry giants such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Burg ...

– A fast food chain, sold to

McDonald's New Zealand McDonald's Restaurants (New Zealand) Limited (also using the trading name "Macca's") is the New Zealand subsidiary of the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. Its first location opened in 1976. In 2017 McDonald's New Zealand had ...

in 1996 *

Foodtown Foodtown was a New Zealand supermarket chain owned by Progressive Enterprises. As with Woolworths, the Foodtown brand was phased out in the late 2000s, with all stores rebranded as Countdown by the end of 2011. Foodtown supermarkets were t ...

– The Foodtown brand was phased out in early 2012. * Woolworths

Product brands

* Countdown * Freefrom * Macro * Essentials * The Odd Bunch

Former product brands

* Signature Range * Naytura * FreshZone * Basics * No Frills * Woolworths Select * Home Brand

References

External links

Progressive Enterprises Limited

Press release – Woolworths acquisition
{{Supermarkets in New Zealand Supermarkets of New Zealand Retail companies of New Zealand Retail companies established in 1949 Woolworths Group (Australia) New Zealand companies established in 1949