Supermarket giant Coles, is set to open a new range of convenience stores.
Announced as part of the Coles and Wesfarmers strategy update, the company plans to set-up smaller stores to fill gaps in Australian cities.
Coles outgoing boss John Durkan said: “We are developing flexible store blueprints that will allow us to fill network gaps with smaller formats in inner city locations”.
“These smaller formats tap into emerging customer trends of healthy eating and increased convenience,” Mr Durkan said.
Associate Professor Gary Mortimer, a retail expert at Queensland University of Technology, told news.com.au: “Woolworths has certainly been more on the front foot trialling Metro stores so this is Coles going, ‘We’ve probably missed the mark’”.
Mr Mortimer said it was likely that Coles’ new stores would be a similar format to Woolworths Metro.