Four small retailers hope Commerce Commission will order supermarket sell-off

Commissioners are asking robust questions about whether Foodstuffs and Woolworths should be required to divest some of their businesses to break their stranglehold on the grocery market, Newsroom reports. Matthew Lane, general manager of Night’n Day, appeared again before the Commerce Commission to argue that the control the two big chains exert over groceries retail is stopping any other players entering or expanding in the market – and he argues from experience. And entrepreneur Tex Edwards, who previously broke open the Telecom/Vodafone telco duopoly with the creation of 2 Degrees, says he is fronting a consortium called Northelia that can raise the capital to build a new chain of supermarkets.