Drakes Supermarkets

Drakes Supermarkets is a privately owned Australian independent retail chain based in South Australia.[2]

Named after Roger Drake who opened the first store in Mitcham, Adelaide in 1974, Drakes has since expanded to become one of Australia's largest independent supermarket chains, operating 70 stores in South Australia and Queensland.[3] Drakes has an online shopping website which delivers groceries from eight stores in South Australia and one store in Queensland.[4] It also has an online store for corporate platters called "Drakes' Little Site of Platters. This was rebranded to Feed me by Drakes in 2021, feedme.drakes.com.au".[5]

Drakes also operates two newsagencies and six Cellarbrations liquor stores in South Australia.[6] Drakes rebranded their Drakes Cellarbrations stores to Drakes Cellars in June 2025 and launched an online shopping website for delivery and click & collect of liquor.

History

key people	Roger Drake, (CEO) John-Paul Drake, (Director)

revenue	AU$1.1 billion (2019)

num employees	5,800+

homepage	http://www.drakes.com.au/

Establishment

Drakes Supermarkets began trading in 1974 when Roger Drake, a former Coles/Myer manager, started his own three-aisle supermarket in Mitcham. Known as Jack and Jill's, he bought the store for only $29,000 and employed four people.[9]

That store proved successful and in 1977, he bought his second store at Torrensville. This was his first full-size supermarket.[2]

Growth

Drake continued to expand his chain. By 2005 he owned 27 Foodland stores in SA as well as 3 Timesavers stores, six Queensland stores, four newsagencies, a liquor outlet and a large property portfolio.[2] This speedy expansion was enabled by the purchase of Davids and Franklins supermarkets in SA as well as the purchase of six Queensland stores between August and October 2004.[2]

In 2006, Drakes obtained a rare exemption from participating in the WorkCoverSA scheme.[10]

In 2013 Drakes announced the development of a new meat processing centre at Beverley in Adelaide, South Australia. The centre, expected to cost $10 million, enabled quality control of Drakes meat products and greater efficiencies. The following year, Drakes' annual turnover reached $1 billion in its 40th year of operation.

In 2014 Drakes bought out Wilson's Fresh Produce based in Rocklea, Brisbane. The company had been its Queensland fruit and vegetable supplier for ten years, a relationship that doubled Wilson's sales. Wilson's was rebranded It's Fresh Queensland and the existing wholesale customers were retained. Earlier, Drakes bought out one of its South Australian fresh produce suppliers to form It's Fresh South Australia. Drakes continues to own It's Fresh.[11][12]

As at 2018, Drakes Supermarkets turned over $1 billion a year and employed 5,500 people.[13] Roger Drake continues to own the business.[14][15]

Re-branding

The majority of Drakes Supermarkets originally operated under Metcash's Foodland, IGA or Supa IGA brands. Other stores operated as Timesavers. From November 2017, Drake's Queensland Supa IGA stores were rebranded as Drakes.[16][17] In 2019, all South Australian stores were also rebranded to remove Foodland branding and become Drakes Supermarkets.

Drakes distribution centre

In May 2018 Drakes Supermarkets announced the building of a new $80 million distribution centre in Adelaide's northern suburbs at Edinburgh North, ending its contract with grocery supplier Metcash in June 2019. Drakes already operated its own fruit and vegetable distribution centre, It's Fresh, in Pooraka and meat distribution centre at Beverley.[18] The new distribution centre will not take over supplying Drakes supermarkets in South Australia until the end of September 2019, and Drakes has a new 5 year contract with Metcash for its Queensland stores.[19] The official opening of the new facility was held on 26 September 2019.[20]

type	Private
former name	Drakes Supa IGA, Drakes Foodland
industry	Retail
founder	Roger Drake
hq location	Henley Beach Road, Torrensville
location city	South Australia
locations	75 stores‡R1R‡
num locations year	2025
area served	South Australia Queensland

Drakes Supermarkets

History

Establishment

Growth

Re-branding

Drakes distribution centre

Store formats

Standard format

Market stores

Fruit sheds

New concept store

Other operations

Controversies

Underpayments

Afterpay

Community initiatives

Community Dollars

Drakes Charity Showbags

Private labels

Value

See also

External links

References