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Reddy Express

Australian fuel and convenience store chain

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ5144653
Source-derived summary

Reddy Express is an Australian chain of convenience stores at Shell Australia petrol stations. Formerly a subsidiary of Coles Group, it came under the ownership of Viva Energy in May 2023. Under its previous ownership structure, Coles Express was the former name and an alternate trading name of Coles Group. In September 2023, Coles Express was rebranded as Reddy Express.

The business venture and corresponding fuel discount offer was launched by Coles Myer (predecessor of Coles Group) on 28 July 2003 in response to a similar offer by rival Woolworths some years earlier, which proved attractive to shoppers. Coles Myer purchased the retail business of Shell Australia's multi-site franchisees for $94 million. Shell Australia (later also sold to Viva Energy) continues to be the exclusive supplier of fuel products; leasing the service station property to Coles, and maintaining the presence of the "pecten" and other Shell branding on the price boards and other signage. The reasoning behind the term “Reddy”, which is a stylised version of the word "ready", is due to the stores' convenience-based nature.

History

The Coles Express brand originally referred to a small number of medium-sized supermarkets Coles ran in the central business districts of Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. With the launch of Coles' fuel offer, these were rebranded as Coles Central with the service stations taking the Coles Express branding.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Reddy Express” as australian fuel and convenience store chain. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Reddy, Express and Australian.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2023, 2003—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Reddy, Express and Australian providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Reddy Express”, the useful work is to connect “australian fuel and convenience store chain” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5144653. The first chronological checks are 2023 and 2003.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Reddy Express”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Reddy Express primary sources, Reddy Express archive and Reddy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Reddy Express”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Reddy Express” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.