Final Countdown: Napier’s side-by-side supermarkets will now have different names, but for how long?

Counting down in Napier, with the Carlyle St supermarket stripped of its Countdown livery but no sign of a makeover at the Dickens St site in the distance. Photo / Doug Laing

The final Countdown is on.

One of Napier’s two side-by-side Countdown supermarkets is getting its much-awaited rebrand, but Woolworths is being coy about when the other one might get the same treatment.

“While we don’t share our store network strategy publicly, we can say that all our stores across New Zealand will benefit from the store investment programme we announced in July 2023,” a Woolworths NZ spokesperson said.

At that time Woolworths announced a $400 million rebranding across 194 sites that was expected to take two years.

Watchers of the city of two Countdowns have been counting down, so to speak, since.

“We can confirm we are now just over 80% done with our conversions,” the spokesperson said.

“Our Hastings store was rebranded as Woolworths Hastings and our Carlyle store customers will now be noticing rebranding upgrades.

“All our Hawke’s Bay customers can look forward to an improved shopping experience in their local area and we thank them for their loyalty and patience.”

Hawke’s Bay Today had a further query, specifically about the second, and older, site nearby, bounded by Dickens, Tennyson, Station and Munro Streets, but the spokesperson reiterated: “Sorry, we don’t share our store network strategy publicly.”

Countdown has been in Napier since a high-profile opening as Countdown Foodmarket on the Dickens St site in 1988, in a new store built by South Island chain Rattrays as it expanded to the North Island.

The arrival sparked a frenzy of specials in Napier supermarkets, including a bread war in which prices across the city dropped as low as 5c a loaf.

The Carlyle St site, which by Friday morning had most of its Countdown facade livery painted over or removed in preparation for the Woolworths branding, previously carried the Woolworths name on its way to becoming a Countdown store more than 20 years ago.

It was otherwise known as part of the Big Fresh chain, renowned for its oversized singing-vegetable displays that kept children amused while mums and dads did the shopping.

Napier City Council said it has no current resource or building consent applications for new supermarkets, other than the already announced plans for Taradale, which include a smaller Four Square outlet.

Doug Laing has been a reporter for 52 years, more than 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, at the Central Hawke’s Bay Press, the Napier Daily Telegraph, and Hawke’s Bay Today. He has covered most aspects of general news and sport.