A decision on whether or not to allow Coles to take over Halls Head's Supa Progressive IGA has been deferred again.
The scheduled decision, set down for today, has been moved to a later unknown date as the ACCC asks relevant authorities for more information.
Under the plan, Coles would acquire four Progressive Supa IGA stores including Halls Head, Busselton and Bunbury in the State's south west and Dianella in Perth's north.
In the Statement of Issues, released last month, the ACCC identified a number of issues with the proposal including the current monopoly national food retailers have in the areas.
"The proposed acquisition will remove the unique product offerings of [Progressive Supa IGA]," the report read.
"The ACCC is concerned that the proposed acquisition would replace the differentiated offer of Progressive Supa IGA stores with the offer of Coles, which is already present in each local market.
"The four Porgressive Supa IGA stores have a differentiated promotion, product range and service offering which represents a competitive response to rival supermarket chains and provides an additional choice to consumers.
"Given the markets are characterised by high barriers to entry, new entry at a sufficient scale to replace the lost competitive tension is unlikely."
But in a positive for Coles, the ACCC also found a number of barriers that worked in the national chain's favour including high capital costs for developing a new full service supermarket and a lack of potential sites available or coming up for development.
Should the Coles takeover go ahead in Halls Head, it would give Coles the second largest selling floorspace in the Peel region, second only to Woolworths' Mandurah Forum store.
Plenty of local residents have voiced their concerns since the proposal was made public over the perceived lack of variety and range should the takeover go ahead.
A date has not been set for the final decision.
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