Pak'n Save
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| Private subsidiary | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1985; 32 years ago |
| Headquarters | Wellington, New Zealand |
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Number of locations
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56 |
| Parent | Foodstuffs |
| Website | www |
Pak'nSave (stylised PAK'nSAVE, originally PAK 'N SAVE) is a New Zealand discount food warehouse chain owned by the Foodstuffs cooperative.
Founded in 1985, Pak'nSave was the last of the three major New Zealand supermarket chains (the other two are Countdown and New World) to be founded. As of April 2017, there were 56 Pak'nSave stores operating across the North and South Islands of New Zealand.
Pak'nSave's key policy is to provide everyday food and groceries at low prices, which they state in their current slogan (as of March 2013) ‘Our Policy: NZ’s Lowest Food Prices‘. Stores are large and have a no-frills environment, often with unlined interiors and concrete floors. Customers are left to pack their own bags, and charged for plastic bags in most stores. Many stores offer boxes set on or under a large desk where customers can pack their groceries for easier convenience. Pak'nSave is still the cheapest supermarket in New Zealand.
Pak'nSave was developed following a trip by a group of Foodstuffs executives to the United States in 1985. On that visit they saw Cub Foods, operated by SuperValu, Pak 'n Save operated by Safeway, and other box warehouse supermarkets. Foodstuffs then copied this format in New Zealand. The original Pak'nSave format was almost an identical copy of Safeway's Pak 'n Save chain in northern California.
The first store, styled "PAK 'N SAVE", opened in June 1985 at Kaitaia in the North Island.
As of April 2017, there were 56 Pak'nSave stores across New Zealand.
The name probably originates from the cost-saving practice of leaving customers to pack their own groceries, with checkout operators simply placing the products purchased back into a trolley. Pak'nSave provides the cardboard boxes used for shipping products to the store, or plastic supermarket bags can be purchased at the checkout for 10 cents. Customers are encouraged to purchase longer-lasting bags or to bring their own.
The stores are laid out as supermarket aisles, but with minimalistic design, and often perpendicular to the checkout lanes rather than the traditional parallel found in other New Zealand supermarkets and retailers. Extra products that are not on shelves are stacked above the shelves on the pallets they were delivered in. meaning that the floor space can be used for retail and storage. The stores are supplied daily from their co-operative distributor Foodstuffs.
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Wikipedia