Biggest Australian department store may open sourcing office in Thailand

[ozsamurai]

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alt=whistling.gif>  I didn't know Woolworths was Australian.

I can remember going into Woolworths in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the U.S. in the late 1950's when I was only 10 years old. (1956, 1957)

I always though of it as a U.S. company.

Believe it is out of business now in the U.S. for some years.

But read the headline ..... they say the will open a "sourcing office"  NOT a store.

As I read it that means they will be purchasing supplies in Thailand not selling products?

I once bought canned Tuna in a French owned supermarket chain store in Greece which was clearly labeled (in English) as having been packed in Thailand.

So it goes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I am sure Woolworths is a original American company although as a kid like you I remember a woolworths in our little town in the UK.They traded as the "twopenny and treepenny store" Tupenny and thrupenny!!!.That would have been in the early 50's.I also remember a big huha about something to do with the American Woolworths millionaire Heiress.Not sure now what it was all about but it sure hit the headlines,and yes it does say---- if you people would only read it properly-----It is looking for a SOURCE store .Inother words they want to buy to export,stuff from Thailand

 

Your confusion may lay with Safeway, that was brought to Australia from America by my uncle and his partners after WWII (they were all prisoners together in Changi, when they planned it) it was subsequently bought out by the Woolworths group.  This is where the American ties are mis construed.  Woolies as has been stated was always Australian.

 

Oz

Edited July 30, 2014 by ozsamurai

[Spoonman]

Hmmm.

 

From Wikipedia.

 

[URL=http://s73.photobucket.com/user/v8tfcorty/media/woolies_zps588ce948.jpg.html][/URL]

[Glock3am]

  I didn't know Woolworths was Australian.
I can remember going into Woolworths in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the U.S. in the late 1950's when I was only 10 years old. (1956, 1957)
I always though of it as a U.S. company.
Believe it is out of business now in the U.S. for some years.
But read the headline ..... they say the will open a "sourcing office"  NOT a store.
As I read it that means they will be purchasing supplies in Thailand not selling products?
I once bought canned Tuna in a French owned supermarket chain store in Greece which was clearly labeled (in English) as having been packed in Thailand.
So it goes.
 
 
 

Both.  There is an American Woolworths and the Australian two totally separate identities.
 
Woolworths Limited was founded in September of 1924, originally under the name "Wallworths Bazzaar Ltd", a play on the internationally renown F. W. Woolworth name. After discovering the name had not been registered in Australia, and Woolworths had no plans for overseas expansion, the company became "Woolworths Limited" on 22 September 1924

It's funny how the same name for businesses offering similar wares happens to cross over borders like that yet be completely unrelated.

I remember being surprised when I first came here and saw Foodland, which is a well-known supermarket chain in South Australia (though I think they have now mostly become IGA stores), and wondered if they had expanded over here. But no, it was completely separate. I wonder if they copied the brand-name as the logo even looks similar to the older South Aussie one.

[chooka]

 

 

  I didn't know Woolworths was Australian.
I can remember going into Woolworths in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the U.S. in the late 1950's when I was only 10 years old. (1956, 1957)
I always though of it as a U.S. company.
Believe it is out of business now in the U.S. for some years.
But read the headline ..... they say the will open a "sourcing office"  NOT a store.
As I read it that means they will be purchasing supplies in Thailand not selling products?
I once bought canned Tuna in a French owned supermarket chain store in Greece which was clearly labeled (in English) as having been packed in Thailand.
So it goes.

Yes I am sure Woolworths is a original American company although as a kid like you I remember a woolworths in our little town in the UK.They traded as the "twopenny and treepenny store" Tupenny and thrupenny!!!.That would have been in the early 50's.I also remember a big huha about something to do with the American Woolworths millionaire Heiress.Not sure now what it was all about but it sure hit the headlines,and yes it does say---- if you people would only read it properly-----It is looking for a SOURCE store .Inother words they want to buy to export,stuff from Thailand

 

 

Yes it was American and opened in the UK as well. The UK arm split from the US one but eventually went bust. The Woolworths name and web address was bought and is now an online retailer.

 

It was definitely 100% never American.  Woolworths in the U.S and Woolworths in Australia were never connected.  Always been 100% Aussie

[chooka]

Hmmm.

 

From Wikipedia.

 

Woolworth Holdings and Woolworth Ltd are two different identities.  Woolworth Ltd is the owner of the stores in regards to this topic.

 

 

Type Public Traded as ASX: WOW Industry Retailing Founded 1924 Headquarters Bella Vista, New South Wales, Australia Area served Australia, New Zealand, India Key people James Strong, Former Chairman
Grant O'Brien, CEO Revenue A$59.56 billion (2013) Profit A$2.26 billion (2013) Employees 202,000 (2011) Divisions Supermarkets (Woolworths, Thomas Dux, Food For Less, Flemings)
Petrol (Caltex Woolworths)
Liquor (BWS, Dan Murphy's)
General Merchandise (BIG W)
Home Improvement (Masters) Website www.woolworthslimited.com.a

[Absolut]

This is good news for Thailand, it will increase their exports to Europe via Austria.

Funny !!! :)

[Absolut]

Hi all I think woolworths is owned by south Africa

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A different Woolworths.

The South African Woolworths are department store retailers, currently in the process of buying Australia's David Jones chain of stores.

Woolworths Australia is a completely different animal.

[BSJ]

As some people have not read the first post properly.....

 

And just to make it clear for those joining the thread it's not a supermarket it's a saucing department "as it plans to open a sourcing office in Asia Pacific and is especially interested in Thailand.".

 

So the only companies that need to worry are Heinz and Rosa!  

 

Also, from personal experience, I've tried the Woolies 'Home brand' tuna and it is more akin to cat food than human food.  In fact if I had a cat I would rather feed it something else!

[tomyummer]

Is this the same Woolworths that used to exist (and now long gone) in the US some 40 years ago?

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[Spoonman]

Is this the same Woolworths that used to exist (and now long gone) in the US some 40 years ago?

Sent from my SM-T705 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 

If you read the thread you will find your answer.
 

[tomyummer]

Is this the same Woolworths that used to exist (and now long gone) in the US some 40 years ago?

Sent from my SM-T705 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 
If you read the thread you will find your answer.
 

Thanks. Reading 7 pages of thread about Woolworths didn't excite me. I didn't realize there was so much interest.

[Spoonman]

 

 

Is this the same Woolworths that used to exist (and now long gone) in the US some 40 years ago?

Sent from my SM-T705 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 
If you read the thread you will find your answer.
 

Thanks. Reading 7 pages of thread about Woolworths didn't excite me. I didn't realize there was so much interest.

 

 

No need to read all 3 pages (dunno where you are getting 7 from). Read the post 6 up from yours .
 

[chooka]

 

 

Is this the same Woolworths that used to exist (and now long gone) in the US some 40 years ago?

Sent from my SM-T705 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 
If you read the thread you will find your answer.
 

Thanks. Reading 7 pages of thread about Woolworths didn't excite me. I didn't realize there was so much interest.

 

It's only 3 pages, but your answer is in the last few comments.  The answer is definitely a big no.

[lvr181]

I must admit I picked up a can of  in Wollies last week.

 

I thought pineapple was grown in Australia? No need to import it. I guess the Ebenezer Scrooges don't need a job!

[tomyummer]

 

 

Is this the same Woolworths that used to exist (and now long gone) in the US some 40 years ago?

Sent from my SM-T705 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 
If you read the thread you will find your answer.
 

Thanks. Reading 7 pages of thread about Woolworths didn't excite me. I didn't realize there was so much interest.
 

 
No need to read all 3 pages (dunno where you are getting 7 from). Read the post 6 up from yours .
 

From my tablet each page is 10 entries. Blind replies to the article puts you in the queue which at my entry put me at #69. See, now you've made me have more interest in Woolworths, indirectly.

[chooka]

 

I must admit I picked up a can of  in Wollies last week.

 

I thought pineapple was grown in Australia? No need to import it. I guess the Ebenezer Scrooges don't need a job!

 

It is and most exported to preserving companies abroad and then sold back to Australia.  This is why companies like SPC Ardmona are on the brink of collapse.

[Tomtomtom69]

 

 

I must admit I picked up a can of  in Wollies last week.

 

I thought pineapple was grown in Australia? No need to import it. I guess the Ebenezer Scrooges don't need a job!

 

It is and most exported to preserving companies abroad and then sold back to Australia.  This is why companies like SPC Ardmona are on the brink of collapse.

 

 

Is it the same with some of the cheaper Aussie wine? Earlier today at Foodland, curiosity got the better of me. I looked at 2 brands of Aussie red wine. After seeing the first one priced at only 295 Baht, I thought that was rather cheap. While numerous Aussie wines sold in Cambodia and Vietnam cost only around that price due to their much lower taxes, I thought that with Thailand's wine tax that this sounded a bit low, because otherwise the wine tax argument wouldn't wash. I do realise that tariffs on Aussie wines are going down and will be lower from next year onwards (I believe they will be phased down to 0% eventually over the next couple of years) but I'm not sure if the separate wine tax, which probably affects all types of wine, including locally sourced wines will eventually result in a much cheaper Aussie bottle of wine in 2015, 2016 etc. than the 580-590 Baht range that I've seen on most Aussie wines. Perhaps 500 or so, but 300? I doubt it.

 

Anyway, when I looked at the bottle I noticed something interesting: "grown from premium Australian grapes. Bottled in Dalat, Vietnam". Ah, bingo! Of course, no wonder it's so cheap! Then there's Berry Estates in Sakorn Nakorn province doing the same and offering a 299 Baht wine. With every other wine almost double the price (and clearly bottled in Australia), I can now see how these quite significant price differences arise. So do some of these Aussie winemakers ship their wine over in vats to SE Asia (Vietnam and Thailand) and then bottle them locally to save costs? Geez if at least 2 Aussie winemakers are doing it I can already see the future: all (or most) Aussie winemakers may eventually adopt the same strategy, at least with respect to selling their goods on the Asian market (they might continue bottling locally for the local, NZ, North American and European markets where similar or even higher labor costs would wipe out any advantages of bottling in those countries).

 

Without an FTA in place, French and Italian wines sold at Foodland are of course even more expensive (typically around 750 Baht or so) whereas Chilean wine is about the same price as the Thai/Vietnamese bottled Aussie stuff.

 

BTW other examples I've seen (not limited to Thailand): Berri Fruit Juice, bottled in Malaysia, cold in Cambodia. Tim tam biscuits, packaged in Indonesia, sold in Thailand for 30-40 Baht a packet. Australian tim tams sold alongside them: about 100 Baht a packet.