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Coles Myer Ltd. is an Australian public company which operates a number of retail chains.
Early history
The company's history dates back to 1900 when Sidney and Elcon Myer opened a store in Bendigo. Separately, in 1906 the first Coles "variety store" was opened in Melbourne. Both chains grew throughout Australia through growth and acquisitions, and both independently listed on the Australian stock exchange. By the 1980s, Coles primarily operated supermarkets, whilst Myer operated a chain of mid-market department stores. The two companies merged as Coles Myer in 1987.
Businesses
The company operates a number of chains of retail outlets, including:
- Myer: upmarket department stores, with a wide selection of name-brand fashion and luxury goods. The stores were branded "Grace Bros." in New South Wales until 2004 when the stores were rebranded as Myer outlets.
- Coles Supermarkets: one of the biggest supermarket chains in Australia.
- Bi-Lo: a mid-to-downmarket supermarket chain.
- Liquorland: "bottle shops" (Australian term for liquor outlets) attached to Coles stores. The same division also operates "Vintage Cellars", slightly more upmarket standalone shops, and Quaffers.
- Kmart: downmarket department store, roughly equivalent to Wal-Mart stores in the United States. When opened in 1969 Kmart Australia was 51 percent owned by the US S.S. Kresge Company (later Kmart Corporation), but by 1994, Kmart Corporation had divested any remaining interest.
- Officeworks: large office supplies outlets.
- Target and Target Country: "soft goods" stores, including clothing, manchester, cosmestics, and the like. "Target Country" is the result of rebranding of a chain formerly known as "Fosseys", and operates in country towns with smaller stores selling a subset of the range.
- Baby Target: as the name suggests, a seller of baby-related products.
- Harris Technology:Computer equipment retailer.
- Megamart: Electrical and furniture superstores located in outer-suburban areas.
Corporate issues
Despite its huge presence in the Australian retail industry, the company's profitability and share price performance has been spotty since the 1987 merger. The company's flagship Myer stores have struggled to cope with the emergence of "category killer" retailers in many of its specialist areas, and also with a trend away from department store fashion and back towards smaller fashion retailers. A sequence of revamps failed to impress the market.
Its supermarket business also faces stiff competition from the Woolworths Limited company, whose supermarkets offer cut-price petrol as a sales incentive. In June 2003, Coles announced that it would take over the operation of Shell's domestic fuel retail outlets, thus giving it the ability to offer similar incentives.
The company also tried the Toys R Us format, opening several World 4 Kids stores in major cities. These failed, costing the company many millions of dollars. The World 4 Kids brand continues now as the toy department in Kmart stores.
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