Kaufland scouts Melbourne & Sydney hypermarket locations

Germany's Kaufland grocery and liquor chain has been "actively scoping sites" in Sydney and Melbourne.

Fairfax reports that Kaufland representatives have examined a development site in Melbourne’s Chirnside Park, next to a Dan Murphy’s liquor outlet.

"Kaufland is actively scoping sites in Sydney but doesn’t appear to have settled any transactions at this stage," Fairfax noted. 

“I’m sure they’re talking to lots of people. They’re keen to start looking and they want sites,” one agent said.

Kaufland is owned by the Schwarz Group, a privately-operated German company which also owns discount German supermarket chain Lidl. It describes itself as the world’s fourth largest retailer.

It currently has more than 1230 stores across Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia. It employs approximately 150,000 employees. Australia will be the first English-speaking country it has tackled. 

In addition to groceries and alcohol, Kaufland also sells general goods such as electronics and kitchen appliances. Unlike Aldi, which mainly stocks its own brands, Kaufland offers thousands of household brands as well as its own labels.

In October last year, Kaufland bought the Le Cornu site in the Adelaide suburb of Forestville for $25 million. It recently submitted plans to local authorities for a two-storey $34.6 million supermarket.

It has also bought a former Bunnings in Dandenong South, in Melbourne’s south east, for $16.4 million.

Fairfax Media understands Kaufland has negotiated options over two other BWP-owned former Bunnings sites in Melbourne, one in Oakleigh South and the other in the northern suburbs of Epping. The sites have book values of $18.3 million and $13.5 million respectively.