Woolworths reveals plan for first drive-through store in Sydney’s exclusive eastern suburbs

Woolworths has unveiled brazen plans to transform a petrol station into a pick-up grocery site in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

In a major overhaul of the retail experience customers will be invited to make their orders online and then pick them up in an allocated time window.

Attendants will deliver groceries straight to the boots of cars which can be parked in one of six parking spaces at the dedicated pick-up site (pictured, a render of the plan)

The site on Old South Road is expected to service at least 100 customers a day and comes in response to a major surge in online orders seen during the pandemic.

The redevelopment of the petrol station will cost the shopping giant $560,000 with the plans still under consideration by Woollahra Council.

Woolworths said the contactless delivery service would save shoppers time and reduce their risk of being exposed to Covid-19.

‘Customers using this service will only be parked for a matter of minutes while they wait for their order to be delivered to their car, as opposed to a typical shopping trip which can take upwards of 30 minutes,’ the company said.

‘This model is in response to a sustained increase in online shopping that is seen within the existing supermarket network while also providing a reduced Covid-19 risk for customers.’

The redevelopment of the petrol station (pictured) will cost the shopping giant $560,000 with the plans still under consideration by Woollahra Council

Concept images show the site would still resemble a petrol station with 11 car spaces, six for customers and the others for employees and delivery drivers.

The space would also feature a loading dock for the five delivery trucks required to deliver the groceries to the former petrol station.
The pick-up site would be serviced by between two and eight workers who would deliver groceries to at least 100 households each day.

Plans drawn up by Fabcot, the development arm of Woolworths, estimate the set-up would remain for up to five years as a temporary use of the space.

The supermarket giant plans to eventually build a physical shop at the site with the pick-up service to ‘activate’ the site as those works are finalised (pictured, a Woolworths in Miranda)

The supermarket giant plans to eventually build a physical shop at the site with the pick-up service to ‘activate’ the site as those works are finalised (pictured, a Woolworths in Miranda)

Traffic modelling predicts the site would generate up to 340 daily car movements with Transport for NSW also weighing in on the plans.

The transport body said Woolworths would need to provide detailed line-marking and signage to reduce the impact on traffic on the busy road.

In plans the supermarket said the dedicated pick-up site ‘would increase the overall availability of fresh and healthy food available in Rose Bay’.

Traffic modelling predicts the site would generate up to 340 daily car movements with Transport for NSW also weighing in on the plans (pictured, a store in Melbourne)