Rose Bay: Woolworths plans first stand-alone drive through grocery pick up site

A surge in online shopping has prompted a supermarket giant to build a dedicated direct-to-boot pick up store in Sydney in a move some business owners have described as “bizarre”.

A supermarket giant has proposed a major shake up to the retail experience with a petrol station set to be transformed into a dedicated pick-up site for online shopping orders.

Woolworths has lodged plans for a former servo at Rose Bay in Sydney’s east to be remodelled in response to online shopping surge.

Up to 100 customers a day would be able to collect their groceries at the new concept shopping outlet as part of the $560,000 redevelopment for the former Caltex service station site on Old South Rd.

The drive-through would not be attached to any Woolworths store or offer in-person shopping but instead provide a site where customers could make online orders and then pick them up in an allocated time window.

A concept plan of the outlet

Customers would then wait for orders to be delivered by staff directly to the boots of their car – avoiding the typical shopping hassles of having to manoeuvre bulky trolleys down supermarket aisles or queuing for self-service check-outs.

The site would also become a base for couriers from online platforms such as Uber Eats to deliver groceries direct to customers’ doors.

Concept images of the site show the set-up would continue to resemble a petrol station but instead of accommodating fuel pumps it would have 11 carparking spaces, including six for direct grocery pick-up customers.

Traffic modelling has predicted the store would generate to 340 car movements per day.

The remaining car spaces would be allocated to the grocery delivery drivers and employees. Between two to eight people would work at the site at any one time.

Woolworths said the dedicated pick-up site would address the shift in customer shopping behaviour brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“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 store would be built on the corner of Old South Road and Albemarle Ave

But not all locals are convinced there is demand for the drive-through offering including Peter Morelli, owner of Rose Bay’s famed Parisis Food Hall.

“Personally, I can’t see the need for it and the traffic it will cause would be horrendous for surrounding residents. I’d be up in arms if I lived opposite,” he said.

“I find the whole thing quite bizarre and it’s not good for small business because it could be detrimental to the village feel of the area.”

Mr Morelli said he believed there was no replacement for the in-person shopping experience – particularly in the eastern suburbs.

Parisis Food Hall owner Peter Morelli is not on board with the plans.

“We have a lot of older customers coming to us and they love coming into the store, seeing the products and they have that relationship with the staff where we know them all by name,” he said.

“They’re not able to shop online and the need for human interaction is always going to be there for people.”

Plans by Fabcot – the development arm of Woolworths – show the Rose Bay set-up would be in place for up to five years while the company pushes ahead with long-term plans to build a small to medium-scale Woolworths outlet along with units at the site.

Fabcot said the temporary use of the would enable the site to be “activated” until the bricks and mortar outlet is determined by planning authorities.

The Rose Bay Caltex site was previously sold to Woolworths.

Other features of the drive-through development include landscaping works along with a loading dock to accommodate the five delivery trucks estimated to drop off groceries to the outlet each day.

There would also have to be site remediation works to the former petrol station’s underground fuel storage tanks including sampling to detect toxins such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and hydrocarbons.

Transport for NSW has provided early feedback on the plans – requiring Woolworths to put in place detailed line-marking and signage to manage traffic impacts on the Rose Bay road network.

Fabcot said most of the impacts would be reduced by the grocery collection booking system, enabling it to manage demand throughout the day.

Traffic modelling included in plans has predicted the store would generate up to 340 daily car movements.

The development plan has been lodged to Woollahra Council and remains under assessment.

Woolworths was not able to provide further comment at the time of publication but in plans stated the development “would increase the overall availability of fresh and healthy food available in Rose Bay” and “transform an under-utilised site into a high-quality retail space.”