Shifting aisles
THE sale of Cornett's IGA in Gympie may be imminent. Cutbacks within the store have revealed it is one of 18 Cornett-owned IGAs in Queensland up for sale.
Grocery wholesaler Metcash, understood to own 47% of Cornett's IGAs, has called for the immediate exit of five Queensland IGA stores and the sale of 18 Cornett outlets.
South Australian supermarket chain Drakes Supermarkets is in discussions with Cornett to buy out the struggling grocery store. A Drakes' spokesman said they were in negotiations with Cornett to purchase the Gympie store. "At this stage that is all we can confirm," Wayne Lehmann said.
If negotiations are successful, customers can expect few changes to grocery lines, despite a total re-branding of the store in line with 50 Drakes' stores throughout South Australia and Queensland.
Cornett's IGA Gympie was believed to have been hit hard by a combination of factors, including deflation, the economic downturn and natural disasters.
These factors stretched the company after it had taken on many new stores in recent years.
