Supermarket
Customers line up to pay for their purchases at a state-run Bicentenario supermarket in Caracas May 2, 2014. President Nicolas Maduro is introducing a controversial shopping card intended to combat Venezuela's food shortages but decried by critics as a Cuban-style policy illustrating the failure of his socialist policies. Maduro, the 51-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, trumpets the new "Secure Food Supply" card, which will set limits on purchases, as a way to stop unscrupulous shoppers stocking up on subsidized groceries and reselling them. REUTERS/Jorge Silva (VENEZUELA - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS SOCIETY)
Customers line up to pay for their purchases at a state-run Bicentenario supermarket in Caracas May 2, 2014. President Nicolas Maduro is introducing a controversial shopping card intended to combat Venezuela's food shortages but decried by critics as a Cuban-style policy illustrating the failure of his socialist policies. Maduro, the 51-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, trumpets the new "Secure Food Supply" card, which will set limits on purchases, as a way to stop unscrupulous shoppers stocking up on subsidized groceries and reselling them. REUTERS/Jorge Silva (VENEZUELA - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS SOCIETY)

Residents and consumers in Queensland are expected to benefit from the plan of supermarket giant Coles to open 31 stores across the state within four years. The move is expected to create 8,000 jobs.

The entry of Coles into the state would involve an investment of $480 million, said Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.

The new stores will be located in Kedron, Alderley, Keperra, Mt Gravatt, Redbanks Plains, Mango Hill, Springfield, Rochedale, Sippy Downs and Bremer. Coles had started to build the new groceries in Brookside, Taigum, Indooroopilly and Redcliffe.

The building of new outlets in Queensland is part of Coles's celebration of its centenary, said Coles General Manager for Queensland and Northern Territories Mark Scates.

"It's promising to see that a third of the new stores will be constructed in regional Queensland, not just securing long term jobs for the regions but also for local construction companies and local contractors," he said.

Twenty-one of the new stores would be in metro and suburban Brisbane and the remaining 10 in regional Queensland. Six are under construction and another 13 would be built and finished within the next two years. Five more Coles outlets would open by late 2017.

It is not just Coles that is expanding in Queensland, but also Bunnings which announced in February the opening of 20 stores in the state that would create also 8,000 new jobs.