Woolworths has been granted resource consent by the Dunedin City Council for proposed upgrades to its Dunedin Central supermarket, between Cumberland St and Moray Pl.
These upgrades would facilitate expanded online retail operations, including both direct-to-boot customer collection and supermarket-managed delivery services, a report said.
A Woolworths spokesperson said the extension would result in an about 4% increase in building area.
Work was expected to begin around August and be completed by mid-2027.
‘‘The extension of our Dunedin Central store is to support growth in online orders from our Dunedin customers.’’
By expanding the area where staff completed orders for pick-ups and deliveries, there would be more online delivery ‘‘windows’’ available for Dunedin customers.
Orders would be brought directly to customer vehicles parked at six new carparks on site.
‘‘This sort of expansion is increasingly routine for Woolworths as our customers move more and more to using the convenience of online ordering.
‘‘We undertook a similar expansion at Woolworths Mosgiel in 2024.’’
As the work was isolated to the north-western corner of the building, there would be minimal disruption to customers, the spokesperson said.
The report said a key component of the proposal was a new 175sq m extension to the supermarket building to form an enclosed ‘‘online room’’, which would serve as a dedicated packing and handling space for online grocery orders.
An existing loading and ‘‘produce prep’’ area on the Moray Pl frontage would also be reconfigured into a covered, controlled-access loading zone that could accommodate up to three delivery vehicles at a time, secured by a retractable gate.
That area would be used for online delivery vans to load groceries from the store for subsequent delivery to customers.
There would be a loss of 14 normal carparks to make room for the six new, dedicated customer carparks for collecting online orders.
Modifications were designed to improve efficiency and service without altering the core supermarket function, the report said.
