Towards the end of last year, we saw a number of retailers going into voluntary administration, with Harris Scarfe (66 stores, 1800 employees) and Bardot (54 stores, 530 employees) being the most high profile. Other companies include burger chain Benny Burger, seven Red Rooster outlets in Queensland, fitness company Muscle Coach, the restaurant chain Criniti’s, discount chain Dimmeys and Co-op Bookshop.
Most of the stories cited the impact of online shopping and while certainly that has been a challenge to bricks and mortar stores, it isn’t a new development and we note that online retailers like Stylerunner and Zauli were also affected.
Come January, however, we saw a flood of store closures and voluntary administrations:
Jeanswest – voluntary administration, 988 employees affected
David Jones – 2 store closures
EB Games – 19 store closures
Mc Williams Wines – voluntary administration, 146 employees affected
Bose – closure of all stores
Curious Planet – 63 store closures
Kaufland – complete withdrawal from Australia, 200 employees affected
https://www.abcbullion.com.au/investor-centre/pdf/worrying-trend-for-aussie-retail