Supermarket giant Woolworths has opened a new concept store in Australia and it could fundamentally change the way we buy our food. Breaking from the trend of shopping at Woolies once a week, the store is designed to get shoppers in as often as three times a day.
The new Woolworths Metro store on Sydney’s heaving Pitt St Mall has been inspired by retailers on the busy streets of Hong Kong, according to a report in news.com.au. The concept store focuses primarily on hot and cold food to go. The traditional deli counter has been replaced by a large kitchen serving everything from piping hot roast dinners and red curries, to poke bowls and bespoke salads.
The new store has a “curated range” to keep you coming back for more, says Woolworths. It’s smaller than a usual supermarket, but if you want trendy ingredients such as hemp powder, that’s there in abundance. Over half the space in the store is dedicated to fresh food, far more than in a shopping centre supermarket.
Woolies wants you to linger in store, with a cafe, indoor seating area with phone chargers and microwaves and a sandwich press so you can even cook your own food there. Coffee is the bestselling item at the store.
Woolies’ Metro stores aren’t new, but the Pitt St store is the start of a new concept, catering to those who are moving into urban areas. There’s an influx of high density living and residents who are exceptionally time poor with a small kitchen.
The next new concept store will open in the Sydney inner-city hotspot of Kings Cross, only metres from an established Coles store.
Source: news.com.au
