coles bought out bilo (an independant family business from the mid 70's) in 1987.
their motto to the owner david weekes was "we can't compete against your low prices so we will buy you out" david excepted the buyout and stayed on as CEO for 1 year. once the buyout was settled the CEO of coles said to david now we have your company (which they admitted they paid too much for) we now just have to screw the owner of the real estate these bilo stores were on for low rent fees. David Weeks said to the CEO, "give me a ring when you want to set up a meeting on the rents because he OWNED all but a couple of the stores freehold"

most supermarkets % interstate are made up with the majority of coles and woolies stores. however the IGA brand is very strong especially in ACT.
Franklins stores of which were around 200+ strong in australia folded when shareholders (dairyfarmers) demanded a bigger profit during their major FRESH renovations. there are a few left but are independantly owned.
Aldi supermarkets are the discount supermarkets of australia. far cheaper than any supermarket chains in AUST.
they have taken over the mantle from franklins, jewels, jack the slasher (qld), shoeys (nsw) and IGA
some of the main stayers AUST wide
* Coles Group Lmt
o Bi-Lo
o Bi-Lo Mega Frrresh
o Coles
o Coles Central
o Coles Express
o Pick 'n Pay Hypermarket
o Fishers (Victoria and Mount Gambier only)
o Foodland Supermarkets (South Australia only)
* Metcash
o IGA
o Supa IGA
* Woolworths Limited
o Flemings (New South Wales only)
o Safeway (Victoria only)
o Woolworths Metro
o Woolworths (outside Victoria)
o Food For Less
* Independent
o Aldi Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, ACT and Victoria only)
o Leo's Fine Food & Wine (Victoria only)
o Macro Wholefoods (New South Wales and Victoria only)
o Maxi Foods (Victoria only)
o NQR (Victoria only)
o Supabarn (ACT/NSW only)
o Valuemart (Queensland only)
* Pick 'n Pay
o Franklins (New South Wales only)
* SPAR Australia Limited
o 5 Star (New South Wales, ACT, Queensland and Northern Territory only)
o SPAR (Queensland and New South Wales only)
and some that have gone by the wayside
* Action Supermarkets (Queensland, Northern NSW, Western Australia only)
49 stores sold to and rebranded as Woolworths, remaining stores rebranded as IGA in 2006.
* Arrow Supermarkets
* AUR
Rebranded as FoodWorks in 2003.
* Franklins Big Fresh (Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria only)
All stores closed or sold off in 2001
* Buy Rite
Taken over by AUR in the 1990s, rebranded as FoodWorks in 2003.
* Cannon Supermarkets (ACT?)
Taken over by Woolworths Limited, stores rebranded as Woolworths
* Clancy's
Rebranded as IGA in 2000
* Dewsons (Western Australia only)
Rebranded as IGA in 2006
* Foodland WA (Western Australia only)
Rebranded as Eziway in 2004
* Four Square WA (Western Australia only
Rebranded as Eziway in 2004
* Fresco Supermarkets (New South Wales only)
All but one store were taken over and rebranded as Franklins in 2002.
* Goodfellows
* Jack the Slasher Supermarkets (Queensland only)
Renamed to Food For Less in the early 1980s
* Jewel Supermarkets
Rebranded as IGA in 2000
* Newmart (Western Australia only)
Rebranded as Coles in 2003. Some Stores sold to FAL and rebranded as Action.
* Payless Supermarkets
* Rainbow Supermarkets
* Purity (Tasmania only)
Rebranded as Woolworths in 2002
* Roelf Vos (Tasmania only)
Rebranded as Woolworths in 2002
* Shoeys (New South Wales only)
Rebranded as Bi-Lo in 1987
* SSW
* Supa Valu
* Super K Mart converted to Coles supermarkets and K Mart discount department stores in the early 1990s
* Tuckerbag