Ann: FY14 Guidance Update , page-48

I live near the city. These supermarkets are getting busier by the year in aggregate as the population of inner city dwellers increases. 500m is reasonable spacing when you consider the fact that shoppers typically walk and some of these stores don't even have parking bays. I'm in the middle of the circle but there are a lot of people that would only be able to walk to 1 or 2 of the stores. These grocery stores were there for years before I arrived too. Only one I see going bankrupt is the IGA that sells nothing but mince meat and cheap steaks. Inner city grocery store sales seem far more dependent on food quality, gourmet ranges and convenience than price.

I know what you are saying when you talk about over occupation of retail space. Masters opened up a new store in joondalup 200m from bunnings so bunnings closed their old store and opened up a new store twice the size of masters. Now there is 3 times the retail space in the same area and the old bunnings was never busy to the point it needed 3 times the space when I went in there so I'm not sure how they are going to keep their sales per square metre up. I still believe this over creation of retail space is curtailed to low density suburbs where land is cheap, building costs are low with the barn style buildings and people have easy access to low traffic roads where they travel an extra 10km to another grocery store where they perceive greater value.