Strathfield (retailer)
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Strathfield (ASX:SRA) is an Australian retailer that sells car stereos, car alarms, home entertainment, small office/home office items & mobile devices (eg. mobile phones, MP3 players etc). It had 87 stores in all mainland states and territories in March 2005.
The company was first established in October 1980 in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield - hence the name. Originally, it was known as Strathfield Car Radio and was known as this for a number of years, until other products overtook car stereos as their main earner. This name is still used by many people.
The company expanded into mobile phones in 1987 and it was the first retailer to connect a customer to the GSM network in Australia in 1993. The mid 1990s saw an expansion into SoHo and home entertainment devices.
Strathfield listed on the ASX in 1998. Mobile phone and other revenues started to decline from around 2000 onwards [1] and the company has expanded to provide phones from a number of carriers, including Virgin Mobile and Optus.
The name Strathfield is used for stores that carry the full range of products. Exteriors of these buildings are painted red. Smaller stores that mainly carry mobile phones and accessories and are often located in major shopping centres are branded Strathfield Connect. Strathfield is well-known for its slogan and accompanying jingle Drive In and Jive Away.
It should always be kept in mind that when you buy something from Starthfield, keep the reciept because there is a good chance that it will break. This is because Strathfield buys the cheapest items it can and then jacks up the price. You can tell by looking at the bottom right hand corner of the screen when a sales assistant is putting through a sale. There will be a two diget number, then a 'P' and then another two digets. The first two numbers represent the percentage mark up from cost.
Sales people only have to maintain a 20% mark up, so if an item shows 45P23, then there is a 45% mark up and you can get them to drop it by 25%. Look for this with the no name products such as Dvx, Mtx, MP3TECH and others
