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

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicity ...

. Progressive Enterprises Limited was once owned by the Western Australian Supermarket Group FAL – Foodland Associated Limited which operated Action Supermarkets, Supa Valu Supermarkets and Dewsons Supermarkets. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Woolworths Group.

History

* 1948: Progressive Enterprises Limited was established on 9 February 1949 by the Picot family. * 1961: Progressive Enterprises became the parent company to Foodtown Supermarkets Limited. * 1974: Albert Gubay opens the first 3Guys store. Progressive Enterprises purchased the chain in 1987, and rebranded or closed them throughout the 1990s with the store in Hillcrest, Hamilton being one of the last when it closed in January 1998. * 1988: Progressive Enterprises became part of Australian business Coles Myer * 1992: Coles Myer relaunched Progressive Enterprises onto the New Zealand stock exchange as a public company. On 25 May 2005, it was announced that Woolworths Limited, one of Australia's largest retailers, would be purchasing Progressive Enterprises along with 22 Action stores in Australia. The deal was worth approximately NZ$2.5 billion and culminated in the official transfer of assets on 24 November 2005. In 2006, company workers at three distribution centres initiated

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increa ...

in an attempt to win a collective employment agreement and pay rise. The company responded by suspending grocery distribution centre operations and allowing suppliers to send stock directly to supermarkets. Also in 2006, the company was awarded the Roger Award For The Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in New Zealand. On 15 August 2007, Progressive Enterprises announced employees on youth rates or under the age of 18 would get paid adult rates, which in some cases can be up to an 80% pay increase. The average pay increased from $9.00 to $13.50. In August 2011, Progressive Enterprises won a marketing award. On 22 June 2018, Progressive Enterprise Limited renamed to Woolworths New Zealand Limited.

Store brands

Woolworths NZ runs the following

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, ...

chains: * Countdown: 184 supermarket stores * SuperValue: 40 stores – convenience supermarket stores, run as a franchise * FreshChoice: 30 stores – Higher quality supermarket with a large range, run as a franchise It operates online grocery shopping in the name of Countdown.Countdown Online Shopping
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Former operations

* 3 Guys (also known as Gubays) * Big Fresh * Price Chopper * Georgie Pie – A fast food chain, sold to McDonald's New Zealand in 1996 * Foodtown – The Foodtown brand was phased out in early 2012. *

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

Product brands

* Countdown * Freefrom * Macro * Essentials * The Odd Bunch

Former product brands

* Signature Range * Naytura * FreshZone * Basics * No Frills * Woolworths Select * Home Brand

References

External links

Progressive Enterprises Limited

Press release – Woolworths acquisition
{{Supermarkets in New Zealand Supermarkets of New Zealand Retail companies of New Zealand Retail companies established in 1949 Woolworths Group (Australia) New Zealand companies established in 1949