Coles is accelerating innovation in its new store formats, revealing plans to open three new Coles Local small-format supermarkets by the end of June.
Opening today, Coles Local York Street is the first Coles Group supermarket to open in Sydney’s CBD in 15 years, with two more stores planned to launch next month in Melbourne’s Fitzroy and in the Brisbane suburb of Ascot, which will be Queensland’s first Local store.
The 833sqm Sydney CBD site is smaller than a full-line Coles supermarket, with data analytics being used for the first time in a CBD store, helping tailor approximately 4700 product lines to a customised store layout, designed specifically for the Sydney CBD customer.
Uniquely tailored to the local customer base, the new store features a ‘kombucha wall’ upon entry and broad range of vegetarian options, with Coles Local data showing CBD customers buy 13 times more kombucha and twice as much tofu, when compared to a typical Coles customer.
Coles Chief Sustainability, Property and Export Officer Thinus Keevé said the Coles Local format was resonating strongly with Sydney customers following the successful opening of stores in Rose Bay, Chatswood and Manly.
“We opened the first Coles Local in Melbourne’s Surrey Hills in 2018, and with the opening of York St we now have seven stores operating in the new format, including four in Sydney. Every time we open a new Coles Local store the feedback from customers is fantastic, and we see that not just through increased sales but directly through major gains in our customer satisfaction scores.”
“We can’t wait to welcome customers next month to our first Coles Local to open in Queensland, following a six-month redevelopment of our existing Ascot supermarket.
“A key part of our property strategy is a tailored and targeted customer offer and our York street store has been customised using thousands of data points. The store has a bespoke layout focused on products that are most in demand among CBD customers, complemented by innovations customers wouldn’t expect to find in an ordinary supermarket.”
Coles Local York Street features an in-store coffee and fresh juice station, a macaron, mini gelato and Japanese mochi ice cream parlour, and one of the largest convenience food ranges in the country with more than 500 lunch and dinner solutions tailored to the busy CBD office worker.
As part of Coles’ commitment to Winning Together with the communities it serves, Coles Local York Street has created 50 new jobs, and is supporting small food producers by stocking products from Sydney gourmet suppliers Land of Plenty, Brooklyn Boy Bagels, Pasta Pantry and Sonoma.
The store also highlights some of Coles’ most recent innovations in the sustainability space following the opening of its newest sustainability concept store in Moonee Ponds, designed to reduce waste and emissions under the banner of Together to Zero.
In addition to network-wide initiatives such as energy efficient LED lighting and REDcyle soft plastics recycling bins, Coles Local York Street also incorporates energy-saving measures such as doors on fridges and freezers, while team member uniforms are made with part-recycled materials.
