“We do not intend to make any changes,” Lo Giudice said, but he declined to say what would happen after Leo’s closes its doors.
Asked if any apartments were planned, he said: “We are investors, and we bought it as a passive investment to hold, as an investment property. Full stop.”
Family-owned business Le Max Group, which operates the Leo’s stores, confirmed on Wednesday it had sold both properties and would close the supermarkets at the end of 2026.
Le Max Group still owns the Hartwell Leo’s supermarket in Glen Iris.
Property records show that Rose Blake, who founded Leo’s with her late husband Leo, owns the site at 2 Summerhill Road, which was purchased for $2.66 million in 2006.
Le Max Group still runs Maxi Foods supermarket at Ferntree Plaza in Upper Ferntree Gully, but doesn’t own the land. Ritchies leases that site to Metcash, which subleases it to Le Max.
Loading
Ritchies Supermarkets property manager Mal Cameron said Le Max, which has traded in Ferntree Gully since 1994, was expected to continue operating there despite Ritchies buying the property from the previous landlord, the Angelatos family, a year ago.
Brendan Blake, son of Rose and Leo, said he was sad about the sale of the Kew and Heidelberg properties. “The legacy of Leo’s stores is quite grand,” he said.
Brendan, who runs his own supermarkets in Castlemaine, Daylesford and Ballarat and is not connected to the Melbourne stores, said his father was “always innovative, always seeking out new ideas, and going overseas and seeing what other people were doing”.
“The Kew store is a representation of what he envisaged, which was different from the chain stores,” he said.
Brendan said the Blakes bought the Heidelberg property in the mid-1990s. The Kew site, bought in the mid-1980s and just sold, includes the car park, the supermarket, an adjacent row of shops, and houses in nearby streets. “It’s a huge parcel of land,” Brendan said.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Read the full article here
