History
In May 1981, the first Countdown market opened at Northlands Mall in Papanui, Christchurch. This business was established by Rattrays Wholesale and gained momentum through this decade. The Rattrays Wholesale Group included the Rattrays Cash and Carry warehouses, tobacco vans, now known as the Red Arrow Distributors fleet and also included the SuperValue group of franchised supermarkets and now operating as SuperValue/FreshChoice.
In 1992, Foodland Associated Limited (FAL) Australia, purchased the Countdown/Rattrays business. This acquisition was then followed by gaining a majority share holding in Progressive Enterprises Limited, including General Distributors Limited, trading as the Foodtown.
In October 1993, Foodland Associated Limited (FAL) brought the majority shareholding in Progressive Enterprises from Coles Myer and shortly after brought all remaining public shares and delisted Progressive from the New Zealand stock exchange. With this purchase, Progressive Enterprises became the parent company for a number of FAL brands. Progressive Enterprises consisted of Foodtown Supermarkets, Countdown, Georgie Pie, Rattrays and Supervalue.
On 17 June 2002, Progressive Enterprises Ltd bought Woolworths (NZ) Ltd from Hong Kong based owners Dairy Farm Group. The sale saw Progressive's supermarket brands Foodtown, Countdown, 3 Guys, SuperValue and FreshChoice joined by Woolworths, Big Fresh and Price Chopper. As a result, PEL increased its share of the NZ grocery market to approximately 45%.
During the period of 1993-2005, Countdown evolved from a Foodmarket type format offering mainly groceries to a Full Service Discount Supermarket. The stores vary in size due to the consolidation of brands after the merger with Woolworths (NZ) Ltd. Many Big Fresh, Price Chopper and 3 Guys stores were rebranded to Coundown stores during after this merger.
On 24 November 2005, Australian company Woolworths Limited purchased Progressive Enterprises Limited from Foodland Associated Limited.
In October 2006, Progressive Enterprises announced a Discount Fuel Scheme with Gull Petroleum and Shell to offer discounts on petrol when shoppers spend $40 or more in their Woolworths, Foodtown or Countdown Stores. This scheme is similar to the one their Parent company Woolworths Limited offers in Australia. Foodstuffs stores countered this with the same offer at BP and their own New World and Pak'nSave fuel sites.
In July 2008, Onecard, which was previously only available to Woolworths and Foodtown customers, was extended to Countdown.
In September 2009, Progressive Enterprises announced it would re-brand all its Foodtown and Woolworths stores to Countdown as stores were refurbished. The final Foodtown and Woolworths to re-brand were Browns Bay and Meadowlands respectively, both on 14 November 2011. A single Woolworths outlet continues to operate at Mount Maunganui's Bayfair Shopping Centre. The store was not rebranded because a Countdown already exists at the centre.
Read more about this topic: Countdown (supermarket)
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