 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Brisbane, Australia |
Area served | Eastern Australia |
| Products | Foods and staples |
| Owner | Think Convenience |
| Website | www |
NightOwl Convenience Stores is a franchised system of convenience stores operating in Australia - predominantly in the state of Queensland.
The NightOwl, established by Don Halliwell and Rod Craig, opened in 1975 in the Brisbane suburb of Auchenflower. The store pre-dated 7-Eleven opening in Australia by 12 months. The store traded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, offering an extensive range of traditional supermarket grocery items-together with fresh fruit, vegetables and hot bbq chickens. The store was popular with the growing student and yuppy community in the district. The business concept was franchised in 1987.
In 1995, NightOwl was floated on the stock exchange and was bought out by Retail Services Limited in 1996. RSL is a diversified holdings group mainly based in the retail sector, this helped take NightOwl nationwide
The NightOwl business was purchased by David Hodge in September 2001. The companies Senior Management was changed and the business was re-aligned with a new focus being placed upon growth. Store livery was modernised, multiple-site franchisees were encouraged within the business and investment in training was increased. Taking up the Chair of the 'Australasian Association of Convenience Stores' (AACS) for 2003 and 2004, NightOwl increased its profile within the industry and played host to regular AACS functions within Queensland.
In 2007, the Franchise business was sold to Adam Adams and his company Think Convenience. [1] Adam and his wife Katrina are also the owners of six NightOwl stores in Cairns and North Queensland. As part of a strategy to increase growth dynamically, Think Convenience has re-introduced the company store method of expansion used extensively by Retail Services and discontinued by David Hodge. In order to facilitate the development of new regions and states, company-owned and operated stores were established. In regions like Townsville in Queensland, this has ensured new growth where initially franchisees were not available. Once established in this new area, NightOwl can then encourage franchising using company stores as examples of the business system.
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines. In some jurisdictions, convenience stores are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, although many jurisdictions limit such beverages to those with relatively low alcohol content, like beer and wine. The stores may also offer money order and wire transfer services, along with the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy cost. Some also sell tickets or recharge smart cards, e.g. OPUS cards in Montreal. They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient supplement to larger stores.
7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVEn, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. After 70% of the company was acquired by an affiliate Ito-Yokado in 1991, it was reorganized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings.
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is often used to mean "supermarket".
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company has 15,000 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Japan, China, and Indonesia. The company operates its corporate stores mainly under the Couche-Tard, Circle K, and On the Run brands, but also under the affiliated brands 7-jours, Dairy Mart, Beckers and Winks.
Circle K Stores, Inc. is a chain of convenience stores owned by Alimentation Couche-Tard, based in Laval, Canada. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1990 and went through several owners, before being acquired by Alimentation Couche-Tard in 2003. As of February 2020, Circle K has 9,799 stores in North America, 2,697 stores in Europe, and an additional 2,380 stores operating under franchise agreements worldwide.
Woolworths Group Limited is an Australian retail company headquartered in Bella Vista, Sydney, with extensive operations throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is the largest company in Australia by revenue and the second-largest in New Zealand.
Video Ezy was an Australian home video rental business that offered titles on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray, as well as console video games, for rent. At its peak in the mid-2000s, Video Ezy had over 500 company-owned and franchised video rental shops in the country, and owned 40% of the Australian video rental market after taking over Blockbuster's Australian operations. The company also expanded internationally into New Zealand and Asia.
Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based, multi-national retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned by ASX-listed Harvey Norman Holdings Limited. As of 2022, there are 304 company-owned and franchised stores in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and South-East Asia operating under the Harvey Norman, Domayne and Joyce Mayne brands in Australia, and under the Harvey Norman brand overseas.
On the Run is a flagship convenience store brand developed by ExxonMobil, used at Exxon and Mobil stations in the United States, BP and Mobil in Australia and at Esso and Mobil stations internationally. Alimentation Couche-Tard acquired the On the Run trademark and franchise network in the U.S. in 2009, and Parkland Fuel did the same in Canada in 2016; ExxonMobil retains full ownership of the brand in the rest of the world.
Gamble-Skogmo Inc. was a conglomerate of retail chains and other businesses that was headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Business operated or franchised by Gamble-Skogmo included Gambles hardware and auto supply stores, Woman's World and Mode O'Day clothing stores, J.M. McDonald department stores, Leath Furniture stores, Tempo and Buckeye Mart Discount Stores, Howard's Brandiscount Department Stores, Rasco Variety Stores, Sarco Outlet Stores, Toy World, Rasco-Tempo, Red Owl Grocery, Snyder Drug and the Aldens mail-order company. In Canada, retail operations consisted of Macleods Hardware, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Stedmans Department Stores, based in Toronto, Ontario. Gamble-Skogmo carried a line of home appliances, including radios, televisions, refrigerators, and freezers, under the Coronado brand name.
Sanity is an Australian chain of music and entertainment stores and is the country's second-largest retailer of recorded audio and video discs. It is privately owned by Ray Itaoui, and as of December 2022, comprises 41 outlets across Australia. The brand specialises in the sale of CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and related merchandise and accessories, sold from its network of stores and website. The Sanity brand was owned and conceived by Brazin Limited from 1992, before being folded into BB Retail Capital in 2006, then became a company in its own right after it was divested to Itaoui in 2009. At its peak, there were more than 150 Sanity outlets across every state and territory of Australia.
Hudsons Coffee is an Australian chain of coffee retailers. As of August 2013, it comprises 67 stores across Australia, as well as one store at Changi Airport in Singapore. It is owned by the Emirates Group which includes Emirates Airline, the Costa Coffee franchise in the UAE, and Left Bank lounge bar and restaurants in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Southbank in Melbourne.
The Good Guys is a chain of consumer electronics retail stores in Australia and formerly New Zealand. Its national headquarters is in the Melbourne suburb of Southbank, Victoria. The company was founded by Ian Muir, and following his death in 2009 ownership of the chain remained with the Muir family. In 2016, The Good Guys was purchased by JB Hi-Fi, despite competition concerns.
McWhirters is a heritage-listed former department store at Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as McWhirters Marketplace, McWhirters & Son Ltd, and Myer. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya Tbk or Alfamart is a primarily-franchised Indonesian convenience store chain. As of May 2021, it had over 17,000 stores spread across Indonesia, 4 million daily customers and tens of thousands of micro, small and medium-scale business partners. Alfamart also has about 1,000 outlets in the Philippines. The business was started in December 1989 as a trading and distribution company in Jakarta by its president, Djoko Susanto. Ten years later, Susanto ventured into the convenience store category with Alfa Minimart, with a first branch in Karawaci, Tangerang, Banten. Later renamed as Alfamart, the convenience store brand has since expanded to the Philippines, with its first Philippine branch located in Trece Martires, Cavite.
All Day Convenience Store is a convenience store division of All Value Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of MBV Group of Companies owned by a Filipino entrepreneur and a former Philippine senator, Manny Villar. All Day Convenience Store was the former Finds Convenience Store Inc., an experimental business of Villar which was established in 2008 with an initial 40 branches in Metro Manila.
Night 'n Day is a chain of New Zealand grocery stores. The stores operate long hours, and sell a range of ready-to-eat products.
Retailing in New Zealand is an important sector in the economy of New Zealand, as a channel for a large proportion of household spending and international visitor spending.
