In 1927, Joe David founded his first
corner store in
Woolloomooloo,
Sydney trading as Davids. Having expanded to six stores, in 1935 Davids opened a wholesale warehouse in
Redfern. In 1966, Davids entered the liquor market by purchasing Harbottle Brown & Co. In 1980, the AG Campbells wholesale business was acquired. In 1987 the liquor group was renamed Australian Liquor Marketers. The IGA brand was introduced to Australia by Davids Holdings in 1988 when 10 stores became members of IGA. In 2000, the business was rebranded to Metcash. In 2005, Metcash and
Woolworths purchased Foodland. Under the agreement, Foodland was divided into two with Metcash acquiring most of the Australian operations and Woolworths acquiring the New Zealand operations and 22 supermarkets in Australia. In 2010, Metcash acquired the Franklins brand and converted its stores to the IGA banner. In the same year, Mitre 10 hardware business became part of the Metcash Group. In 2012, Metcash took a majority share in Automotive Brands Group, which operated the Autobarn and Autopro chain of stores, for
A$53 million and incorporated it into its automotive division. The company then sold its automotive division to Burson Group (now Bapcor) in 2015 for
A$275 million. The chief executive officer of the automotive division was
Supercar driver
Paul Dumbrell. In 2016, Independent Hardware Group is created with the combination of the Mitre 10 and Home Timber & Hardware networks. In 2020, Metcash acquired 70% of Total Tools (increasing to 85% in 2021 and 100% in 2023). Total Tools is franchisor to the largest tool retail network in Australia. In February 2024, Metcash announced that it had signed three acquisition agreements (Superior Food Group; Bianco Construction Supplies; Alpine Truss) cumulatively valued at approximately
US$558.5 million. In 2025, Metcash merged Independent Hardware Group and Total Tools to form the Total Tools and Hardware Group. It also launched its retail media network LocalEyes. ==Operations==