Woolworths Te Awamutu reopens
Official relaunching as supermarket rebranded
Local residents can now enjoy their grocery shop at the freshly refurbished, state-ofthe-art Woolworths Te Awamutu, with the supermarket officially relaunching today after construction began in September.
It was announced in July that Woolworths would spend $400 million on a transformation plan that would rebrand New Zealand’s Countdown supermarkets back to Woolworths by early 2024.
Complete rebranding will take longer, with the entire network of 194 Countdown stores taking a couple of years to switch.
Woolworths New Zealand director of property Matt Grainger says as part of the supermarket’s transformation to Woolworths New Zealand, it is investing significantly in upgrading stores nationwide to provide a better experience for its team and customers.
“The upgrade of our Te Awamutu store is an example of this investment. We’ve undertaken a $6.2 million renovation to modernise our store and better meet the needs of our customers and team,” Grainger says.
“It’s not just changing our signage to Woolworths — it’s about investing in improving our offer to our communities and providing the best supermarket experience.”
Woolworths Te Awamutu store manager Daniel Van Rooyen says the team are excited to be able to unveil the transformation of the store to the local community.
“It’s really exciting that our customers will see and experience the full benefits of our upgraded store as they visit us in the busy run-up to Christmas. I know the team is really proud and keen to show what we can now offer,” Van Rooyen says.
“We’ve refurbished the store throughout, including new checkouts, new flooring and decor, introducing a health foods aisle and upgrading our fresh produce, deli, bakery, and seafood areas — to offer an enhanced shopping experience from start to finish.
“We’ve also added five undercover direct-to-boot carparks for customers to pick up orders — a popular move as online shopping grows in popularity due to its convenience. This service will go live early next year once the canopy over this area is completed.
“For our team, we’ve upgraded their amenities and cafe area.”
Team and customer safety was another significant consideration with the installation of bollards, double entry gates, and trolley locking.
Two dedicated courier parks have a separate store entry/exit to make it safer for drivers and the team.
As part of a company-wide focus on reducing food waste and addressing food security, Woolworths Te Awamutu partners with Kaivolution and Te Awamutu Foodbank to redirect food that cannot be sold but still good enough to eat, to help address hunger in the community.
At the relaunch, Woolworths Te Awamutu donated a trolley full of groceries to both groups help their work in the holiday season.
The store also donated a trolley of toys to its Operation Christmas appeal.
Woolworths Te Awamutu is at 180 Sloane St and is open 7am-10pm, seven days a week.
Woolworths has a long history in New Zealand, opening its first New Zealand store in Wellington in 1929.
It has been 14 years since the Countdown brand slowly replaced Woolworths and Foodtown stores in New Zealand, with the last stores rebranding in 2011.
In Te Awamutu it was an even larger project — the town got its second large-format supermarket following the development of Pak’nSave in Cambridge Rd.
It was the first large-format Countdown in Waipā, built on the site behind the previous store, which was able to continue operating.
That store was then demolished to make way for the new carpark and on December 2, 2010, the new store opened.