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Aldi joins Woolworths, Kmart in dumping Australia Day merchandise

JC
January 12 2024 - 1:56pm
Australia day: Cronulla Beach hosting festivities for Australia Day. Picture Chris Lane
Australia day: Cronulla Beach hosting festivities for Australia Day. Picture Chris Lane

Aldi has followed major retailers Woolworths and Kmart in ditching Australia Day merchandise ahead of January 26.

The German-owned supermarket chain confirmed its Australia Day Special Buys catalogue would not be returning in 2024.

'Barbie season': a page from a 2023 Aldi catalogue.
'Barbie season': a page from a 2023 Aldi catalogue.

Some stores will also be operating under reduced trading hours due to the public holiday.

Meanwhile rivals at Coles announced they would continue to roll-out their Australia Day merchandise as planned.

"We are stocking a small range of Australian-themed summer entertaining merchandise throughout January which is popular with our customers for sporting events such as the cricket and tennis, as well as for the Australia Day weekend," a spokesperson said.

It comes days after Woolworths announced it would no longer be stocking merchandise celebrating January 26 in store, aside from the flag which is available year-round.

The supermarket giant declined to comment on the reasons behind the change.

Aldi has joined Woolies in scrapping its Australia Day merchandise ahead of the public holiday.

A Woolworths Group spokesperson confirmed online retailer MyDeal, which is owned by the same company, will sell merchandise online, but nothing will be available from physical stores.

"While Australian flags are sold within BIG W all year round, we don't have any additional themed merchandise available to purchase in-store in our supermarkets or Big W ahead of Australia Day," a spokesperson said.

"There has been a gradual decline in demand for Australia Day merchandise from our stores over recent years.

At the same time there's been broader discussion about 26 January and what it means to different parts of the community."

The move attracted criticism from Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who slammed the supermarket giant and called for a Woolworths boycott.

In 2023, retail giant Kmart announced it would abandon Australia Day-specific items in a bid to be more inclusive.

Other major Australian brands like Telstra and Channel 10 have given employees the option to take the public holiday on another date.

Tennis Australia has also made the move to abandon Australia Day celebrations on January 26, instead standing in solidarity with Indigenous people.

JC

Jessica Coates

Journalist