Kaipara Kūmara has been a direct supplier to Woolworths NZ (the supermarket retail banner they operate under now) since 1970. Back in 1970 though, they were Foodtown supermarkets and were owned and operated by Progressive Enterprises Ltd. Progressive Enterprises went on to include 3 Guys chain (phased out in 1987), then the Countdown chain, and later the then Woolworths chain (which they phased out in 2002).
In 2005 Progressive Enterprises was purchased by the publicly-listed Australian company, Woolworths Group Limited. At that time, there was still the Foodtown and Countdown banners. In the years that followed though, they consolidated the retail brand offer to the single Countdown banner. In 2023 they made the decision to re-brand to the Woolworths banner. With over 185 supermarkets across New Zealand in 2024, they serve Kiwi communities all over New Zealand. Every week, they serve more than 3 million customers, and offer more than 20,000 different products in each of their stores.
Woolworths New Zealand is also the franchise coordinator for Fresh Choice and SuperValue supermarkets . That's why you might see products that are ‘exclusive to Woolworths’ or ‘only sold at Woolworths’, also sold at these stores.

A little over a week after Kaipara Kūmara lost nearly 75% of its 2023 kūmara crop due to the wet summer and cyclone Gabrielle, key members of the Woolworths team visited with us here at Kaipara Kūmara to see first-hand the devastation and offer their support. The nature of their visit was indicative of the 54 year relationship Kaipara Kūmara had shared with the supermarket chain. One of the outcomes of the visit was Dargaville Woolworths store taking on nearly a third of the Kaipara Kūmara staff on a part-time basis. This was awesome and well received by those who took up the offer, with the obvious lack of hours offered at the packhouse due to 75% less kūmara. On top of this, Kaipara Kūmara received a one-off grant from Woolworths to help with the financial recovery of the business.