Woolworths Limited

Woolworths Limited is a large Australian retail corporation. It operates in Australia and New Zealand only:

• The Woolworths chain of supermarkets in Australia (all Australian states except Victoria)
• The Safeway chain of supermarkets in Australia (Victoria only)
• The BigW department store chain
• Dick Smith Electronics and Tandy Electronics consumer electronics chains in Australia
• Woolworths Liquor liquor stores
• The Dan Murphys chain of Liquor stores in Victoria
• Woolworths Plus Petrol petrol stations
• Woolworths EzyBanking (jointly with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia)
• GreenGrocer.com.au (http://www.greengrocer.com.au), an online fruit and vegetable retailer

Woolworths Limited is the second largest retail company in Australia, behind Coles Myer and its Chief Executive Officer is Roger Corbett.

Company History

Woolworths opened its first store, the Woolworths Stupendous Bargain Basement in the old Imperial Arcade in Pitt Street, Sydney on December 5, 1924. Its nominal capital was just 25,000 pounds (approximately 70,000 Australian dollars today) and the initial share offer attracted 34 people, including the 5 founders - Percy Christmas, Stanley Edward Chatterton, Cecil Scott Waine, George William Percival Creed and Ernest Robert Williams. The name on the draft prospectus drawn up by Cecil Scott Waine was "Wallworths Bazaar" - a play on the FW Woolworths name (the owner of the Woolworths chain in the US and UK). However, according to Ernest Robert Williams, Percy Christmas dared him to register the name Woolworths instead, which he succeeded in doing after finding out the name was available for use in New South Wales. Accordingly, the Woolworths Limited in Australia has no other historical relation to the FW Woolworths Company in the USA.

Recent Activity

• 1983: Woolworths acquired Dick Smith Electronics.
• 1985: The Victorian-based Safeway supermarket chain was added to Woolworths' portfolio.
• 1993: Woolworths Limited floated on the Australian Stock Exchange at $2.45 a share.
• 1996: Woolworths opened its first Plus Petrol outlet in Dubbo, New South Wales.
• 1998: Woolworths Internet HomeShop service begins in Sydney.
• 1999: The first Ezy Banking service was launched in Queensland.
• 2000: Chisholm Manufacturing and Rockmans clothing stores were sold off.
• 2001: Woolworths acquired Tandy Electronics from the Canada based Intertan Inc, as well as 71 supermarkets from the former Hong Kong owned Franklins chain. Woolworths also acquired internet grocery retailer GreenGrocer.com.au (http://www.greengrocer.com.au).

External links

• Official Company Site (http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au)
• Supermarket Chain Site (http://www.woolworths.com.au)
• Woolworths EzyBanking Site (http://www.ezybanking.com.au)
• Woolworths Internet HomeShop (http://www.homeshop.com.au)
• GreenGrocer.com.au (http://www.greengrocer.com.au)
• BigW Site (http://www.bigw.com.au)
• Dick Smith Electronics Site (http://www.dse.com.au)
• Tandy Electronics Site (http://www.tandy.com.au)
• Dan Murphys Liquor Site (http://www.danmurphys.com.au)

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