Big W
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Big W (stylised as BIG W) is an Australian chain of
discount department stores Discount stores offer a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient Logistics, distribution to keep down costs. ...
, which was founded in regional
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
in 1964. The company is a division of the Woolworths Group and as of 2024 operated 179 stores, with around 18,000 employees. Big W stocks clothing, health and beauty,
manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, kitchenware, toys, pet items, office items, books, televisions, gaming consoles, video games, some furniture items, snack food and small electrical household appliances both on its website and in retail stores.


History

The first Big W store opened in 1964 at the
Jesmond Jesmond ( ) is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, situated north of the city centre and to the east of the Town Moor. Jesmond is considered to be one of the most affluent suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, with higher aver ...
shopping centre in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
. The original stores were full line
department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
s similar to a Myer and David Jones. At that time Woolworths still operated several hundred Woolworths Variety stores, which were the original Woolworths stores and carried a small range of general merchandise products. In 1970 the Big W name ceased to be used and the stores were converted to what were then known as Woolworths Family Centres that had "a very large range of general merchandise as well as a supermarket food range". These stores were ultimately converted to supermarkets in the 1980s. The Big W name was resurrected with a new store in Tamworth in 1976, which was the first Big W discount department store to open, with the successful discount department store format that continues today. Woolworths Limited developed the Big W brand to provide Australian shoppers with a broad range of general merchandise products in a dedicated one-stop-shop. Big W's name reflects the complementary relationship it has with
Woolworths Supermarkets Woolworths (colloquially known as "Woolies") is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Woolworths Group (Australia), Woolworths Group. Founded in 1924, Woolworths is currently Australia's largest supermarket chain with a market share of 32.5% ...
and the W stands for Woolworths. The separation of Big W and Woolworths supermarkets was largely completed by 1989, although a few Woolworths Variety stores continued to operate into the 90s (such as the one in Rundle Mall,
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
). In August 2022, Big W opened its first small format store in Town Hall, Sydney. In November 2023, the company launched Big W Market, an online marketplace for third-party businesses to sell their products.


Services

Ever since its modern format stores in 1976, Big W stores featured
garden centre A garden centre (American English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail business that primarily sells plants and related products for Home gardening, domestic gardening. Gardening centers usually revolve around outdoor home imp ...
s similar to
Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...
and Target. These facilities continued to be added throughout its store portfolio throughout the 1980s and early 2000s until they started being added to only a select few stores in the mid-late 2000s, until being retired completely in the late 2010s. Around 2023, Big W began phasing out its garden centres entirely, citing poor sales on live plants. Stores still stock a range of gardening equipment and products such as seeds, fertiliser, herbicides etc. Big W were the second company in Australia to use self-checkouts, which were introduced in 2003 on a trial basis in two of Sydney's major stores and began expanding throughout Australia in late 2005. In August 2014, Big W launched its first party store at Rouse Hill Town Centre in New South Wales and its second at the newly refurbished
Macquarie Centre Macquarie Centre is a shopping centre in the suburb of Macquarie Park in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney and is located opposite the main campus of Macquarie University. History 20th Century 1960s: purchase of land In 1968, Grace Bro ...
, also in New South Wales. There are currently 176 stores across Australia. In 2022, Big W phased out its in-store photo printing service citing declining demand and a growth in online photo ordering. Prints can still be ordered online and collected in-store.


Former services

In 2007, Big W began trialling
optometry Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...
services in
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and since then, these services had been added to selected stores in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Victoria,
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
and the
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...
. In May 2019, Big W announced the closure of all 41 Big W Optometry stores, along with 175 job losses. This would not affect the Big W store that housed the optometry department, and that the last optometry sessions could be held in late July. As of August 2019, all optometry stores have closed, leaving separate stores to be leased or stores within the Big W store to be used as space for another department.


References


External links

* {{Woolworths Clothing retailers of Australia Companies based in Sydney Department stores of Australia Discount stores of Australia Retail companies established in 1964 Toy retailers of Australia Woolworths Group (Australia) 1964 establishments in Australia