Retail Giant Woolworths Is Set To Open Its First Stand Alone Liquor Store!
Retail Giant Woolworths Is Set To Open Its First Stand Alone Liquor Store! Grocery retailer Woolworths has announced plans to open its first standalone liquor store – WCellar. The first store will act as a standalone concept adjoining the food market of the Woolworths Nicolway branch in Bryanston, Johannesburg.
The aim is to open another WCellar store in the Gauteng region, with a view to rolling out to a national footprint in the future, the group told Business Tech. “At Woolworths, we are constantly looking for ways to innovate and improve on our offering of quality products, so we’re really excited about the launch of the WCellar brand extension,” Rebecca Constable, senior wine buyer for Woolworths told Business Tech.
The move will see Woolworths competing with a number of other retailers which currently offer standalone liquor stores – including Spar’s TOPS brand and Pick n Pay Liquor. “The selection of drinks has been carefully curated by our team of experts, and we’re confident that our customers won’t need, or want, to go anywhere else for their complete shop,” she added.
Woolworths Holdings Limited is a South Africa-based multinational retail company that owns the South African retail chain Woolworths, and Australian retailers David Jones and Country Road Group. Woolworths, however, has no association to Australia’s Woolworths supermarket chain. The South African Woolworths business consists of full-line fashion, home and beauty stores, many of which incorporate a premium food retail offering.
Founded by Max Sonnenberg, Woolworths first opened its doors on 30 October 1931 in Plein Street Cape Town, in the dining room of the recently-closed down Royal Hotel. It was an immediate success, and two more stores were opened in the Cape. It was clear that the new business had the potential to expand nationwide except for a lack of capital. Sonnenberg’s friend Elie Susman put up the money for the expansion of the business into the Transvaal and became Sonnenberg’s business partner.
The choice of name came from Sonnenberg’s friendship with a London shipper and financier called Percy (P.R.) Lewis. Lewis was a director of Australasian Chain Stores, ACS, a London shipping and finance house that had been formed to service a rapidly expanding Australian business founded by W.T. Christmas. London shippers commonly provided finance and often selected goods, sight unseen, which were dispatched to their clients.
