News and media releases

Customers in three Countdown stores are experiencing a very different-looking produce section from today, as part of a ten-week plastic reduction test which will see more than a tonne of plastic removed from fruit and veges.  More than 800 customers have provided feedback in-store this morning already.

Kiwis can help to provide vitally important support services for queer, gender-diverse & intersex young people in Aotearoa by donating to RainbowYOUTH at Countdown stores nationwide from today.

To kick off Pride for 2020 and to celebrate receiving its Rainbow Tick re-accreditation, Countdown will have donation boxes available in all stores. Rainbow roses will also be sold in 40 selected stores for Valentine’s Day from 12 February, with $1 from the sale of each rose also being donated RainbowYOUTH.  

Countdown will remove plastic produce bags and more than a tonne of other plastic from three of its stores in February, in a ten-week test to see what else can be done to further reduce plastic in the produce section long-term.

From 10 February, customers at Countdown Orewa, Ponsonby and Manukau will try out a new-look ‘Unwrapped’ fruit and vege section, with a lot less plastic and a lot more loose produce, as well as brand new, specially-designed paper and cardboard packaging.

Countdown is recalling its own brand trevally fish fillets sold between 5 - 11 December 2019  in 51 of its North Island Countdown stores. The fillets may contain elevated levels of histamine.

Countdown has unveiled its first Metro small format store in the heart of Auckland’s central city, designed with CBD shoppers firmly in mind.

Kiwis will soon be able to access life-saving automated external defibrillators (AED’s) at 181 Countdown supermarkets across the country.

Countdown and The Salvation Army have teamed up for their annual Countdown Food Rescue Christmas Appeal, which this year is aiming to help fill food parcels for 15,000 New Zealanders experiencing food poverty around the country.

Countdown’s much anticipated Newmarket store has officially opened today as part of the final stage of construction in the Westfield Newmarket mall redevelopment.

Over winter, young Kiwi gardeners and conservationists have been working hard on sustainability projects thanks to Countdown’s Growing for Good grants. 

In February 2019, Countdown awarded grants to 30 schools across the country to kick-start environmental projects such as installing beehives and chicken coops, building and improving fruit and vege gardens, investigating maramataka, growing Māori medicinal plants and reducing food waste.

Parents and caregivers looking for more sustainable nappy options for their babies can now choose from a range of reusable, cloth and compostable nappies at Countdown stores.

With around 145,000 Kiwi babies and toddlers getting their nappies changed an estimated 6000 times in their first two-and-a-half years, nappies make up a significant amount of New Zealand’s domestic waste.