SUPERMARKET giant Foodstuffs is poised to throw its arch-rival Progressive Enterprises out of another of its stores – this time in New Plymouth.
The co-operative has bought an upper Westown property that is leased by Progressive for its Woolworths supermarket.
The lease has about 12 months left to run, and when it expires, Foodstuffs intends ousting Woolworths and setting up a New World supermarket instead.
Progressive is believed to be searching for another site in western New Plymouth to establish a new Woolworths or a Countdown supermarket.
This is the latest action in an aggressive lower North Island expansion campaign by Foodstuffs, which has spent $500 million in the past 10 years and plans to invest another $200 million in new stores and modernisations in the next three to four years.
The New Plymouth move is similar to Foodstuffs’ recent purchase of the Woolworths-leased store in Tawa, an $8.2 million deal handled by Colliers agent Chris Gollins.
The property was owned by a private British investor.
The Tawa Woolworths lease has 16 months to run.
Foodstuffs plans to upgrade the Tawa supermarket and convert it into a New World store.
Print this article or Email to a friend