Counting down to the end of Napier Countdowns

Woolworths New Zealand is still not giving any indication when it will change the branding of its unique neighbouring Countdown supermarket sites in Napier, despite a transition already made at more than half the almost 200 sites throughout the country.

The two Napier Countdown sites, separated only by one of Napier's main thoroughfares and resplendent in the green livery as seen from the Napier hills. Photo / NZME

Asked this week about the plans, its media team said there was no information to update and referred Hawke’s Bay Today to a statement last month on its 100th store transition, in Dunedin South.

The chains have been reported to have 194 stores nationwide.

In July 2023 Woolworths New Zealand announced a $400 million, three-year plan to rebrand the Countdown stores to align with the Woolworths moniker.

Five months later it reaffirmed it had no plans to sell either of the supermarkets, which are separated by just the width of Tennyson St and the intersections with Dickens St and Thackeray and Station streets a short distance from the Napier CBD.

Countdown first appeared in Napier with a new site bounded by Tennyson, Station and Munroe streets in 1988 as the brand expanded north just six years after South Island chain Rattrays opened the first Countdown store in Christchurch in 1981.

Introductory barbecue-season specials of 10 sausages for a dollar and bread under $1 loaf led to the infamous Mother of All Bread Wars in which prices across Napier supermarkets dropped to as low as 5 cents.

The Countdown Carlyle St site has previously carried the Woolworths name, on the way to becoming a Countdown store more than 20 years ago via the branding of Fresh Choice, best remembered for its oversized singing-vegetable displays to keep the children amused while mums and dads did the shopping.

The Hastings central Countdown site was expanded and rebranded last year amid a shakeup of in the supermarket scene across the Napier and Hastings area, including the closure in Flaxmere and now plans for a new outlet, the opening of a new store in Havelock North, and plans for a possible further new supermarket in suburban Hastings.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 41 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.