Despite rumblings as far back as 18 months ago that he was planning a move, Grant O’Brien’s announcement on Wednesday that he’ll leave his post as CEO at Woolworths in October felt sudden. You can read all about O’Brien’s looming departure and what it means for Woolworths moving forward in our lead story this week.

NSW Police, working with the National Retail Association’s Loss Prevention Taskforce, has wrapped up the latest round of its Operation Lightfingers campaign against retail theft in Sydney. You’ll find the results, and tips for how to minimise retail theft, in this issue.

Inside Retail PREMIUM was at the launch of Fantastic Furniture’s first Sydney concept store this week, and the best bits from our exclusive chat with CEO, Debra Singh, are in this issue.

Also in this issue, we delve into a recent CBRE report that suggests Australia could accommodate 200 new supermarkets over the next five years. In this story, we also offer insight into the ‘will they, won’t they’ discussion surrounding Lidl.

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