“I’m just going to Woolies.”
“I need something from Woolworths.”
Doesn’t quite sound right. But I guess I’ll get used to it, just as I did with Melbourne Central Station… and yes, I’m even getting there with Southern Cross Station (even though I still think that name change was silly).
18 replies on “From Safeway to Woolworths”
We used to have both Safeway and Woolworths in Victoria, before Woolworths bought all the Safeway supermarkets and decided that it would do better to rename the Woolworths as Safeways instead of the other way around. We always used to go to Woolies. It’s only been since about 1990 that we’ve had no Woolworths in this state.
But yes, I refuse to call Spencer Street station anything else. I only made an exception when talking to World Youth Day pilgrims last month, and that was only because they were from overseas and wouldn’t have known that the station had been renamed.
Why shop there anyway?
They jacked up their prices by way more than you would get back every time you save a dollar on a fill of petrol, if you even use the vouchers.
Can’t speak for anybody else, but I shop where I shop for convenience, not price. (Aldi might be cheaper, but I can’t be arsed traipsing out there.)
I was marginally there on Southern Cross, but then the bus driver told us he was taking us to Spencer Street. :-)
As for supermarkets, convenience and price will both be a factor for me. If convenience was all I cared about, I’d buy everything from the local High St and IGA, though the prices are expensive there. Though if I don’t need much, it’s much easier than driving all the way to Safeway.
We’ve got both Safeway and Woolies in Sydney (i think), but I call both Woolies-same thing.
I think Woolworths is a crass name. Safeways was worst, though. What about Bindoxleighs?
I’ve been in Victoria for 5 years now and it took 3.5 years to stop calling Safeway, Woolies.
I still haven’t cracked it with the motoring bodies and naturally refer to NRMA over RACV. It’s bizarre what sticks.
Hey guys, is this the same Woolworths department store chain that exists in the UK?
Got a link to a photo of one of your Woolworths so I can see?
“I’m just going to Safeway.”
“I need something from Safeway.”
THAT doesn’t quite sound right to me!
>> Hey guys, is this the same Woolworths department store chain that exists in the UK?
Negative, it’s an Australian supermarket that ALSO has a department store (BIG W), electronics stores (Dick Smith and recently took over Tandy, or Radio Shack to you, as well), liquor stores (BWS), etc
>> Got a link to a photo of one of your Woolworths so I can see?
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=221+Pimpala+Drive+Woodcroft+South+Australia&sll=-35.072841,138.562619&sspn=0.000644,0.001129&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-35.098563,138.555107&spn=0.010305,0.018067&t=h&z=16&cbll=-35.103727,138.554135&panoid=fT_Hl6QuahxV642Vc07_kg&cbp=2,22.552885149059193,,0,-3.5009240469184224
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=204+Unley+Rd+Unley+South+Australia&sll=-35.098563,138.555107&sspn=0.010305,0.018067&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-34.945121,138.606777&spn=0.010325,0.018067&t=h&z=16&cbll=-34.95029,138.605818&panoid=QeLrdxQp7RZSgTYfb-1Ybw&cbp=2,209.16367785720513,,0,7.318433830977752
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=320+Gorge+Rd+Athelstone+South+Australia&sll=-34.869199,138.551481&sspn=0.010334,0.018067&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-34.865766,138.701835&spn=0.010335,0.018067&t=h&z=16&cbll=-34.870955,138.700871&panoid=B015Kf0xkDiVwgidN-RL8A&cbp=2,164.00739257430098,,0,5.128801879498764
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&sll=-35.064217,138.59283&sspn=0.018231,0.033517&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-35.098537,138.555343&spn=0.010305,0.018067&t=h&z=16&cbll=-35.103711,138.554383&panoid=6DxnBM-cxdEy7h6Djtwb4Q&cbp=2,350.4687484546469,,0,-7.209925788262417
See also http://www.woolworths.com.au/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworths_Limited
According to Wikipedia they are named after the same F.W.Woolworths from UK/US, but are not related otherwise.
They also own Dan Murphys (liquor) in Victoria.
Nuh, I can’t do it. It’s Safeway, always!
Many years ago my rough guess was late 70s early 80s, it was Woolies, and it took forever for our heads to get around calling it Safeway.
The southern cross station will always be called Spencer street to me.
Having lived in WA for a time as well, the RAC(wa) will be known as RAC to me as they never added the WA, I still call it that now even being back in VIC for over 10years now.
Cool, thanks for the StreetView links. They seem to have the same branding, too.
We had a Big W in Aberdeen as well but it closed a couple of years ago and was replaced by an ASDA (a Wal-Mart company).
There’s a Woolworths in most of the reasonably-sized Scottish towns and several in some of our cities.
A couple of years back in NSW we had to get used to saying Myer when they changed the name of all the Grace Bros stores.
Incidentally I remember there used to be Safeway (AKA Red S) in NSW, however they were all changed to Woolworths around 15+ years ago.
I was watching Big Girls Blouse the other night and wondered if there was Tuckerbag in Victoria anymore?
I suspect most of the Tuckerbags became IGAs.
Thanks Daniel, reason why I said BGB was because one of the sketches mentioned Tuckerbag remember that annoying talking bag?