Big Fresh was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

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 Woolworths New Zealand Limited (formerly Progressive Enterprises) is the second largest grocery company in New Zealand (behind Foodstuffs (company), Foodstuffs), with revenue of NZ$6.2 billion for the year to June 2018. Alongside Foodstuffs, Wo ...

, with branches converted to Countdown or Woolworths, or shut down altogether. The distinguishing feature of the Big Fresh was its emulation of a

farmers market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

in a

environment, with a focus on an extensive range of fresh foods; this was unique in

at the time of its opening. In addition to its market-like atmosphere, Big Fresh had a number of features that made their stores unique within

, such as a ''Popcorn Club'' for children and in-store family entertainment, such as

animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

singing and dancing fruits and vegetables, mooing cows, singing sausages, and giant egg-laying chickens.

History

The first Big Fresh store opened in 1988 in Mount Wellington, Auckland. The entertainment attracted customers, allowing Big Fresh to outpace Woolworths on average store turnover.Image reaches end of supermarket shelf life
Retrieved February 2013 The Big Fresh concept became popular throughout

and the chain expanded throughout the country. Through its links to Woolworths New Zealand and Dairy Farm International, who also owned the

Franklins Franklins was an Australian discount supermarket chain selling packaged groceries and perishables throughout New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. It sold the "No Frills" home brand generic products. In 2011 the chain wa ...

supermarket chain in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the Big Fresh brand was launched in

under the brand ''Franklins Big Fresh''. For a brief period the Big Fresh brand in New Zealand was changed to ''Franklins at Big Fresh'', using the slogan "More in your trolley for less." In 1999, Big Fresh had six stores.Big Fresh had 6 stores by 1995, including Auckland stores and one Wellington store. In 2002, there were 11 Big Fresh stores around the North Island. In July 2003, the Big Fresh brand was shut-down, with all branches converted to Countdown or Woolworths, or shut down altogether.

Generic products

Owing to its links with Woolworths and later

, Big Fresh stocked the ''No Frills'' and ''First Choice'' generic product brands. Both brands were dropped by

when Dairy Farm International exited the partnership in 2002.

References

{{Woolworths Supermarkets of New Zealand Defunct retail companies of New Zealand Retail companies established in 1988 Retail companies disestablished in 2003 Woolworths Group (Australia)