WOOLWORTHS will spend $29 million building two new shopping centres in the Geelong region, the company has announced.
Four-hundred jobs will flow from the “Barrabool Hills” supermarket, in Highton, and its sister store at Curlewis.
Regional development manager James Weight said Woolworths was “tremendously” excited about launching the investments.
Work would officially begin on the Curlewis supermarket this Friday, he said.
“We are tremendously excited to officially mark these investments in greater Geelong with the commencement of work at our Curlewis development.”
Mayor Darryn Lyons said the Woolworths developments demonstrated that Geelong was a “lucrative and appealing place to invest”.
“I congratulate Woolworths for recognising Geelong is a great place to do business and welcome the 400 construction and ongoing jobs that will be created at both the Curlewis and Barrabool Hills centres.”
The Curlewis development will feature a 3600-square-metre supermarket and 12 speciality shops. Highton’s will have a 3400sqm supermarket at eight shops.
Woolworths has scheduled both stores to open around the middle of next year.
With construction subject to weather and other variables, both stores are scheduled to open in mid-2015.
The Woolworths projects follow a series of Coles investments in the region, including a new supermarket at Waurn Ponds and others slated for Torquay and Lara.
