Total overhaul: Woolies unveils radically different new store
Woolworths has quietly opened a new concept store which hopes to fundamentally change the way we shop with the retailer.
Trying to break shopper’s habits of only visiting the supermarket once a week, the new store is designed to tempt you to visit as much as three times a day.
Opened last month, the Woolworths Metro store on Sydney’s Pitt St Mall has been inspired by retailers in the densely populated urban centre of Hong Kong.
In this Woolies, the supermarket isn’t your one-stop destination for your pantry staples, instead it has a “curated range” to keep you coming back for more, the company says.
The traditional deli counter has been replaced by a large kitchen serving everything from hot roast dinners and curries, to on-trend poke bowls and salads.
Woolies also wants to keep you in the store, offering a cafe, indoor seating area with phone chargers and microwaves and a sandwich press so you can even cook your own food.
Woolworths’ Metro division managing director Steve Greentree told news.com.au the Pitt Street store was “new and different, not traditional” and was serving as a tester with the best ideas likely to be introduced to your local suburban supermarket.
“If you come into the city wanting lunch at the moment, you have to queue up at a food court but we have an offer that’s significantly cheaper,” Greentree told news.com.au.
“We used to use a supermarket once or twice a week. What we’re building with this store is somewhere we serve you three times a day,” he said.
“The first thing you see when you walk in is a cafe where you can get breakfast and then as you go through the day you can get lunch and then, as you head home, there’s a dinner solution.”
However, there’s a price to pay if you drop into this new glitzy Woolies for your everyday groceries – the price tag is a tad more expensive than your average Woolworths store.
The opening of the new concept Sydney branch comes as Coles announced on Thursday it would open its first convenience-sized store in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs by the end of the year.
However, Coles will be playing catch up with Woolworths who have already launched 50 Metro-branded mini stores.
Although Woolworths Metro stores aren’t new, the Pitt St store is a start of a new concept, Greentree said.
“This store is a combination of everything we’ve learnt on a journey of 27 other stores as to how we get people through the front door and the food we serve,” he said.
Scroll through the gallery above to take a look inside the new Woolies store.