Wikipedia
Woolworths Holdings Limited is a South African chain of retail stores and one of the largest in the country, modelled on Marks & Spencer of the United Kingdom. This relationship with Britain's Marks and Spencer was formed after the Second World War, which led to the retailer buying all of the unissued share capital of Woolworths in 1947. These shares were later sold, but close ties still remain. The first Woolworths store opened in The Old Royal Hotel in Cape Town in October 1931. It was founded by Max Sonnenberg assisted by his son Richard and Fred Kossuth.
The Woolworths brand incorporates a series of food stores, some of which are attached to department stores, while others stand alone or are attached to Engen petrol stations in prosperous urban areas. Some branches include an in-store restaurant, branded as "Cafe W". Woolworths goods are sold at 149 corporate stores, 51 international franchise stores throughout the rest of Africa and the Middle East and 69 South African franchise stores nationwide. Woolworths sells clothing and accessory items under a number of premium brands, namely Country Road, Witchery, Mimco and Trenery.
The chain was named after the United States chain F. W. Woolworth Company but, because of the contemporary trademark laws, the name was legally used without permission. No financial connection ever existed between the companies. Similarly, Woolworths Holdings Limited is not to be confused with Woolworths Limited, an Australian retail company.
Woolworths was a New Zealand wide supermarket chain and a unit of Woolworths Limited. The chain has been re-branded as Countdown, but a single outlet still under the name still operates at Mount Maunganui's Bayfair Shopping Centre, and will not be rebranded to Countdown.
F. W. Woolworth & Co (Cyprus) Ltd was, until the end of 2003, the leading chain of upmarket department stores on the island of Cyprus with branches in all the major cities. The Cyprus company had its roots in the American parent F. W. Woolworth Company in the 1950s, which used its British arm to spread Woolworths stores throughout the British Empire.
Initially there was only one Woolworths in Cyprus, in the capital city Nicosia, but in 1985 the company was sold to the local businessman Nicolas Shacolas (now OBE) who rapidly opened new stores in the island's other cities. These were far more upmarket than the original British Woolworths, and sold a range of designer adult clothing, perfumes and other luxury goods, as well as running food supermarkets in the stores.
At the end of 2003 the Shacolas Group reorganised the Woolworths company by splitting it in two, effectively severing the vestigial ties it had with the British company. The running of the department stores passed to a company called Ermes Department Stores Public Limited, and after an initial rebranding of the stores as Ermes, they were renamed a year later Debenhams.
The ownership of the land and property, as well as responsibility for developing new commercial sites, remained with F. W. Woolworth & Co (Cyprus) Ltd, which was renamed Woolworths (Cyprus) Properties Public Limited in 2005. This is the only part of the Shacolas Group to retain the Woolworths name. Woolworths (Cyprus) Properties Public Limited is now one of the leading developers of commercial shopping centres in Cyprus, with increasing interests elsewhere in southern Europe.