Groceries giant Woolworths will return thousands of products to the shelves of one of its Sunshine Coast stores after sustaining community backlash.
Signs have been placed around its Buderim supermarket informing customers that many items will be put back in the aisles, after they were removed as part of a rebranding last year.
The shop was re-labelled a ‘Metro’ store in August, when Woolies “swapped in some new products and removed ones that weren’t popular”.
But the move sparked mixed reactions from locals: many complained about the loss of some products.
Now it appears Woolworths officials have listened to residents’ issues because scores of goods are on their way back to the store.
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“Hello Buderim, we’re listening to your feedback,” store manager Brent said via the signs.
“We’ll be bringing back over 2000 products that you’ve told us you’ve been missing, including brands you know and love, and some exciting new ones.
“Thank you for your patience as we bring you a better store.”
The about-face and the signs have been generally well received by locals, who still hold some concerns.
“Credit where credit is due. Woolworths Buderim finally admit they got it wrong,” local Mark Thomas said via social media.
The store at Buderim is about half the size of an average Woolworths supermarket, which is why Woolworths said it was changed to a Woolworths Metro brand.
There are about 1000 Woolworths supermarkets and about 100 Woolworths Metro stores around the country.
A Woolworths Metro spokesperson detailed the differences between the types of stores.
“In our big full-service supermarkets, we can offer more of everything because we have the space,” they said.
“In some smaller supermarkets, where we cannot easily expand the store, a Woolworths Metro conversion allows us to tailor the local range by introducing new product lines that are based on what the local community wants.
“It allows us to be more thoughtful in what we stock.”
The spokesperson said the rebranding at Buderim did not lead to fewer items in store but did change the quantity of some categories, and the store layout was altered.
“In Buderim’s case, there was not an overall reduction in the number of products across the store when we transitioned the store late last year,” they said.
“Instead, it’s got more to choose from than ever before.
“What we did do was alter the size of certain categories based on the community’s needs and introduced aisle gaps to make the store easier to shop.”
But it seems that many residents were displeased with the alterations and the lack and loss of some items, which essentially forced Woolworths to act.
“Following further feedback from customers, we added more bays back into the store to increase the product range where they felt they had lost range,” the spokesperson said.
Woolworths also provided Sunshine Coast News with more information on Metro stores.
There are two types of Woolworths Metro stores: the smaller stores in the cities, which are essentially for people to pick up a few things ‘on the run’; and neighbourhood stores that provide a wider range of products for a full shop and pre-made meals, like the one in Buderim.
There is no change to the size or footprint of a store converting from a regular Woolworths supermarket to the neighbourhood Metro store format and each store is redesigned over time with a new layout, to provide more space for popular items.
Woolworths stated that locals largely dictate what items are stocked at neighbourhood Metro stores. There should still be the same number of overall products, or more. But the mix should be based on what is popular and what the community wants, with local input for local range decisions, which means neighbourhood stores are partly ranged by the customers themselves.
Customers can stock the shelves with the items they want by using a QR code in store as part of Woolworths’ ‘Picked by You’ program. More than 4000 products have been added into Woolworths Metro stores based on customer feedback through ‘Picked by You’.
Community consultation sessions are also held in each community.
Woolworths was asked by SCN whether products are generally more expensive at Metro stores.
The question was not directly answered but the grocery juggernaut stated that Woolworths Metro neighbourhood stores continue to have seasonal prices dropped, a low prices program, catalogue specials and the same proportion of own brand products, along with a range of specials that are only available in Metros.
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