German grocery chain Kaufland to open in Toowoomba

GERMAN supermarket chain Kaufland is set to open one of its first Australian stores in Toowoomba.

Artist impressions of what the Toowoomba Kaufland store will look like. Picture: Contributed

GERMAN supermarket chain Kaufland is set to open one of its first Australian stores in Toowoomba.

The company signalled its intentions for a giant Toowoomba facility last week, submitting a development application to Toowoomba Regional Council.

The DA, submitted by the company's Australian arm, said the store would be located at 353-359 Anzac Avenue, on the corner of Anzac Avenue and Carrel Drive at Harristown next to Bunnings Warehouse.

Artist impressions of what the Toowoomba Kaufland store will look like. Picture: Contributed

"A Kaufland store represents a large format retail offering and full range supermarket - noticeably bigger than most Australian supermarkets," the DA read.

"Kaufland stores will offer both national and international brands, including new brands that Kaufland will bring into Australia, an extensive range of local fresh food and groceries, and a range of non-food goods, potentially including items such as crockery and cutlery, cookware, small electrical appliances, napery and linen, some apparel, stationery, toys, as well as seasonal products and weekly promotional items."

Kaufland is a subsidiary of the Schwarz Group, the world's fourth largest retailer. It labels its stores as Hypermarkets.

The Toowoomba hypermarket would be in competition with supermarkets like Woolworths, Coles and Aldi, as well as stores such as Kmart and Big W. The chain began in West Germany in the 1980s and its expansion into Australia is the first time it has operated in an English-speaking country.

The Toowoomba store would have a floor space of 6024sq m and an adjacent bottle shop, labelled in the DA as a hotel, would have a floor space of 350sq m. The main building would also include several specialist retail stores.

"The proposed development will be single storey and will have a maximum building height of 11 metres above natural ground level at the entrance parapet," the DA read.

"The building will be constructed of contemporary and high-quality building materials which will include precast concrete panel walls, aluminium panels and cladding, timber feature cladding, sheet metal roofing and aluminium framed doors and windows.

"A total of 420 on-site vehicle parking spaces will be provided in two linked yet discrete parking areas on the eastern and southern sides of the centre complex."

This would include two electric vehicle charging bays.

The building would also feature solar panels on its roof as well as storage units for the power generated.

Kaufland plans to open its first Australian store in 2021. It currently has about a dozen locations planned around the country.

Tobi Loftus

Follow @tobiloftus

Originally published as German grocery chain Kaufland to open in Toowoomba