A massive Australia conglomerate company. It is one of the two major retail chain owners (the other being the Woolworths) chain. It ends up competing a hell of a lot with itself. It owns (at least) the following:
- Coles (an upper-class grocery store chain).
- Myer (an upper-class department store chain), common in Melbourne.
- Grace Brothers (another upper-class department store chain; but popular in Sydney, rather than Melbourne.
- Target (a lower-class department store chain).
- KMart (another lower-class department store chain; the confusing thing is that it's not unusual to find both KMart and Target in the same shopping centre).
- Harris Technology (a computer store chain).
- Vintage Cellars (a liquor store chain).
- Bi-Lo (a lower-class grocery store chain).
- Officeworks (a stationery and office supplies chain).
It is one of
Australia's largest companies; and its shares are considered blue-chip. One of the good things about Coles is that it offers a pretty
lucrative shareholder discount scheme.