Woolworths (1929–1979) }} Percy Christmas opened the first Woolworths store on
Cuba Street, Wellington in 1929. It expanded into a chain of stores, initially selling
general merchandise. In 1963,
Milne & Choyce,
Farmers and Woolworths formed a joint venture to establish New Zealand's first shopping mall in
New Lynn, Auckland. All three companies established anchor stores in the new mall. Woolworths opened the first supermarket in
Hastings in 1965. Woolworths acquired the
Self Help grocery chain in the early 1970s and began to rebrand these as Woolworths in 1973.
L.D. Nathan (1979–1990) L.D. Nathan, the owner of the Super Value supermarket chain, purchased Woolworths for $12 million in 1979. L.D. Nathan acquired 70 McKenzies
general merchandise stores in 1980, rebranding the stores as Woolworths. The general merchandise stores were rebranded as
DEKA in 1988. In 2001, Woolworths began operating mini-supermarkets at 17
Gull New Zealand stores.
Progressive Enterprises (2001–2005) 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. }}
Progressive Enterprises, the owner of
Foodtown,
Countdown,
SuperValue and
FreshChoice, made a bid to purchase Woolworths New Zealand in May 2001. The merger application was cleared by the
Commerce Commission but then withdrawn following court action by rival
Foodstuffs. Progressive made another application for the merger in October 2001. Australia's
Woolworths Group also expressed interest in acquiring the company. Progressive Enterprises launched its onecard loyalty card in 2003, based on the
Foodtown loyalty card launched in 1994. In 2006, company workers at three distribution centres initiated
industrial action 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. In October 2006, Woolworths began operating fuel discount vouchers for
Z Energy and
Gull New Zealand. In 2008 Progressive Enterprises approached its 943 New Zealand suppliers (which Woolworths calls "Trade Partners") to use electronic commerce or
EDI to integrate supply chain orders (such as Purchase Orders and Invoices) in the same way that Woolworths does in Australia.
Rebranding (2009–2018) In September 2009, it was announced that the Woolworths brand would almost cease to exist as most of the stores would be rebranded as
Countdown over a five-year period. By August 2010, the Woolworths brand had ceased to exist in the
South Island. On 14 November 2011, the Meadowlands store in
Howick, Auckland was rebranded as Countdown, marking the official end of the Woolworths brand. In August 2011, Progressive Enterprises won a marketing award. The 21 Woolworths mini-supermarkets at Gull petrol stations were taken over by
Night 'n Day from June 2011. On 22 June 2018, Progressive Enterprise Limited renamed to Woolworths New Zealand Limited. Woolworths Bayfair in
Mount Maunganui continued to operate under the Woolworths brand. A new Countdown supermarket opened in Bayfair in December 2018. In June 2022, Woolworths New Zealand established a wholesale business, New Zealand Grocery Wholesalers, following the release in March of a
Commerce Commission report on competition in the New Zealand grocery sector. The government gave Woolworths and Foodstuffs one year to establish substantial wholesale agreements or face additional regulation.
Reversion to Woolworths brand (2023–present) In July 2023, it was announced that all Countdown stores would be reverting to the Woolworths brand as part of a $400 million transformation. This store became the first to be rebranded as Woolworths. In early February 2024 Woolworths replaced its loyalty schemes Onecard and Onecard Visa with
Everyday Rewards.
Consumer NZ head of research and advocacy Gemma Rasmussen expressed concern that Everyday Rewards and other supermarket loyalty schemes were not as cheap as they were marketed to be and said that they discouraged competition. During its launch, customers were awarded points upon account creation, and points were able to be gifted to other people. Some customers exploited this by creating several fake accounts and gifting their main account. On 10 September 2024, thousands of union-affiliated Woolworths supermarket workers staged a nationwide strike to demand better wages and working conditions. On 16 December, Woolworths signed a new collective bargaining agreement with
First Union, giving union-affiliated employees a 6.8 percent pay rise over a two-year period. Woolworths confirmed it was undergoing a business retail restructure in April 2025. On 6 May 2025, the
Commerce Commission files criminal charges against Woolworths New Zealand for alleged inaccurate pricing and misleading discounts. In December 2025, Countdown Botany became the final Countdown to be rebranded as Woolworths. == Operations ==