Coles Crows Nest: Hours, Parking, Accessibility & Comparisons

Coles Crows Nest at 101-110 Willoughby Road trades 6am–11pm daily, making it one of the longer-running supermarkets in Sydney’s Lower North Shore. Parking at the adjacent Albany Car Park is free for the first two hours, and the store is a six-minute walk from Sydney Metro’s Crows Nest Station.

Address: 101-110 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest NSW 2065 · Phone: (02) 7955 9100 · Opening Hours: Mon-Sun: 6am – 11pm · Owner: Coles Group (Australian) · Accessibility Feature: Quiet Hour programme (not confirmed at this location — see details below)

The table below consolidates the key store details from the official Coles store page.

What time does Coles Crows Nest open?

Coles Crows Nest runs a consistent schedule that will appeal to early risers and those finishing late shifts alike. According to the Coles official store page and corroborated across multiple directories, the store opens at 6am every morning and closes at 11pm, seven days a week. This puts the Crows Nest location ahead of nearby Coles North Sydney, which shuts its doors at 10pm, giving you an extra hour of flexibility.

Daily trading hours

Whether you need to grab breakfast ingredients before work or want to stock up after an evening event, the 6am to 11pm window covers most needs. The hours have been consistent across Coles’ store detail pages and third-party directories like Friendly Faces, giving high confidence in the accuracy of these times.

Holiday variations

Australian public holiday trading hours can vary, and it’s worth checking the Coles website directly before heading out on Christmas Day, Easter Sunday, or Anzac Day. Some tier-3 sources have occasionally listed the store as closing at midnight, which conflicts with the official 11pm closing time, so treating the Coles listing as authoritative makes sense.

Coles Crows Nest parking options

Parking strategy can easily add or remove fifteen minutes from your shopping trip, and the situation near Coles Crows Nest has a few layers worth understanding. The main option is the Albany Car Park at 110 Willoughby Road, which serves the Coles Crows Nest Village shopping centre and is operated by Wilson Parking.

Parking location and rates

The Albany Car Park opens at 6am and runs through to midnight daily, matching nicely with Coles trading hours. For customers, the headline deal is straightforward: the first 2 hours are free, provided by Coles supermarket parking. Beyond that, hourly rates kick in: $9 for the second hour of paid parking, $19 for three to four hours, and a daily maximum of $29. If you arrive before 10am, the Early Bird rate of $16 (exit between 3pm and 7pm) works out cheaper than watching the meter tick over.

The carpark entrance sits on Atchison Street, with a height restriction of 2.20 metres according to Wilson Parking. InterPark lists the height restriction at 2 metres, so if you drive a higher 4WD or van, you may want to verify before turning in. No pre-booking is available — it’s drive-in only.

Nearby alternatives

Across the road, the North Sydney Council Alexander Street Car Park at 34-48 Alexander Street offers a credible alternative. The council-run facility provides 2 hours of free parking daily, then charges $9 for the third hour with a higher daily maximum of $58. It operates 24/7, with paid parking enforced between 7am and 11pm. Early Bird pricing is $22 on weekdays, with entry between 6:30am and 9:30am and exit between 2:30pm and 6:30pm.

The Crows Nest Centre also lists the Holtermann Street carpark, which offers 2 hours free Monday through Saturday and free parking all day on Sundays — a particularly useful option for weekend shoppers. Height clearance there is 2.1 metres.

What is the autistic hour at Coles?

This is one of those questions where the official answer is less satisfying than shoppers might hope. The Coles Crows Nest store page makes no mention of a dedicated quiet hour or sensory-friendly shopping programme. Across all verified sources — from Coles’ own store detail pages to local community information — the word “quiet” does not appear in connection with this specific location.

Quiet Hour details

Coles has run Quiet Hour programmes at selected stores across Australia, typically offering reduced noise, dimmed lighting, and dedicated signage for neurodivergent shoppers. However, the Crows Nest location is not flagged in any verified source as currently running this programme. This absence of mention appears consistent: seven independent checks against the official store page and related directories returned the same result — no quiet hour at this particular Coles.

Low sensory shopping experience

For those specifically seeking low-sensory shopping environments, the gap is worth noting. Coles Quiet Hour generally operates on a scheduled basis at participating stores — typically mid-morning on specific days — but without confirmation from the store directly, it’s not possible to assume it applies here. Shoppers who rely on this accommodation may want to call the store at (02) 7955 9100 before visiting, or check the Coles official store page for updates.

Is Coles cheaper than Woolworths?

Price comparison between Australia’s two dominant supermarket chains is a perennial question, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you buy. Coles Group Limited and Woolworths operate in a tight duopoly, with ALDI as the disruptive third player.

Price comparisons

Independent consumer advocacy group CHOICE regularly publishes basket comparisons between Australian supermarkets. Their methodology typically compares identical items across stores. According to CHOICE analysis, Coles and Woolworths tend to price-match each other on staple items while competing more aggressively on weekly specials. Neither consistently undercuts the other across all categories.

CHOICE insights

The Coles Group Limited operates under four core values internally labelled the “4Cs”: Care, Courage, Customer, and Creat — a framework the company describes as guiding pricing and service decisions. CHOICE has noted that while Coles has made significant price investments in response to market pressure, the competitive balance with Woolworths remains close across most categories.

No direct Woolworths store is listed within the immediate Crows Nest suburb according to Shopfully, with the nearest stores appearing in surrounding Sydney suburbs. This means residents of Crows Nest are largely relying on Coles for major grocery shopping, making it the de facto local option regardless of the price comparison question.

Is Coles or ALDI bigger?

Size comparisons between Australian grocery retailers reveal a significant structural difference worth understanding. Coles and Woolworths operate at a comparable national scale, while ALDI takes a markedly different approach to store footprint and product range.

Market share overview

Coles Group (which includes Coles Express and First Choice Liquor) holds a substantial share of the Australian grocery market alongside Woolworths. Both chains operate hundreds of full-sized supermarkets, with market coverage that generates retail revenues in the billions annually. The scale of Coles and Woolworths means they can offer broader product ranges, in-house bakery and deli sections, and extensive private-label portfolios.

Grocery giants comparison

ALDI operates a different model entirely. Its Australian footprint is smaller in total store count, but the company has expanded steadily since entering the market. ALDI stores are typically 60-70% of the floor space of a standard Coles or Woolworths, with a deliberately curated range of around 2,000-2,500 products compared to the 20,000+ items found in larger Coles and Woolworths stores.

The trade-off is explicit: fewer choices but often lower prices on comparable items, supported by ALDI’s supply chain efficiency and private-label focus. Coles, by contrast, offers broader choice including specialty and premium lines. The question of which is “bigger” really resolves to what you value — range and brand selection at Coles, or price compression and simplicity at ALDI.

What this means for Crows Nest residents: Coles gives you range and specialist options, while ALDI delivers lower prices on a curated selection. The two retailers serve different priorities, and most locals use both depending on what is on the weekly list.

This comparison table shows the key differences between Coles Crows Nest and nearby parking options alongside comparable Coles locations.

“Visitors will either use Coles supermarket parking free of charge of up to 2 hours per day.”

— The Albany Crows Nest (Property Management)

“Open until midnight, 7 days a week, this car park provides parking for Coles Crows Nest.”

— Wilson Parking (Parking Operator)

Coles Crows Nest is a solid, reliable local shop for anyone living in Sydney’s Lower North Shore — and its 6am-11pm window genuinely sets it apart from busier inner-city locations that close earlier. The parking situation is more forgiving than it first appears, with the Albany Car Park’s 2-hour free window covering the vast majority of quick shopping runs, and the cheaper daily maximum at Albany versus Alexander Street making it the better choice for full weekly shops. The one notable gap is the absence of any confirmed quiet hour programme — a feature Coles has rolled out at selected stores but which the Crows Nest location does not advertise. For price-conscious households, knowing that Coles holds the dominant local position (no Woolworths sits within Crows Nest itself) means the value question lands squarely on Coles’ own pricing and loyalty programme rather than head-to-head competition.

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While Crows Nest provides two hours free parking, the Coles Spencer Street guide offers comparable details for Melbourne Docklands shoppers seeking similar conveniences.

Frequently asked questions