Harris Scarfe
 | |
| Type | Department Store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1849 |
| Headquarters | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Website | http://www.harrisscarfe.com.au |
Harris Scarfe Department Stores is a mid-range chain of department stores founded in Adelaide, South Australia in 1849. At its peak, Adelaide was home to several major South Australian department stores (including Harris Scarfe, John Martins,[1] Peoplestores, Miller Anderson, Cravens, Cox Foys (which Harris Scarfe acquired and closed in 1977), Charles Birks[1] and Charles Moores), of which Harris Scarfe is the sole survivor. Adelaide is now the only Australian capital city with three major department stores in the main shopping strip (the other two stores being David Jones and Myer). In New South Wales and the ACT, the stores have operated under the Allens brand but have since been rebranded to Harris Scarfe.
Today Harris Scarfe has two formats, one for its flagship multi-storey Rundle Mall store, and another for its smaller stores found elsewhere. These smaller stores sell a range of items, similar to discount department stores such as K-Mart, Big W and Target, though the range is limited by the relatively small amount of floorspace.
History
Establishment of the business
Harris Scarfe traces its history to 10 February 1849, when the founding partners, Mr. George Peter Harris and Mr. John C. Lanyon, arrived in Adelaide South Australia on the ship, "Candahar", to establish a hardware and ironmongery business. One of their first known adverts in the local Adelaide paper was on 11 April 1850. Mr Lanyon left the partnership on 22 February 1855 and returned to London where he subsequently opened up a buying house for Mr Geo. P Harris and other businesses in South Australia. This firm acted as the London house for many years. Additional partners, Mr. George Scarfe and Mr. Richard Smith, joined the business in 1866, on a hand shake. The deeds were drawn up on 10 July 1871. Harris Scarfe grew to become a major supplier of a broad range of household, agricultural and industrial items. Mr Geo. P Harris returned to England in 1873 where he died on 26 November that year, aged 52. Mr George Scarfe continued on as chairman of the business until he died on 14 April 1903, aged 76. Their devotion to the business was such that the present company continues to carry the names of its founders.
Besides conducting its retailing business from its Adelaide premises, Harris Scarfe manufactured leather goods, including saddlery and luggage. It also had a wholesaling operation, with a team of commercial travellers who visited country regions throughout South Australia. This business was supported with a promotional product catalogue, which became well known in country areas. During World War II, when the Australian Government enforced price controls, it used the Harris Scarfe catalogue as the price guide.
After World War II, Harris Scarfe's prosperity grew with South Australia, as it supplied building materials during the postwar building boom.
IMFC takes over Harris Scarfe Limited
In 1971, Baradeen Quest Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Investment and Merchant Finance Corporation Limited ("IMFC") made a successful takeover bid for Harris Scarfe Limited, which at the time was a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The Rundle Street (now Rundle Mall) store continued trading, with expansion of its frontage to establish a new womenswear department.
The Trescowthick era
Charles Davis Limited, a listed Tasmanian company controlled by Sir Donald Trescowthick, acquired control of Harris Scarfe in 1976, when Charles Davis took over IMFC. Sir Donald wished to acquire Harris Scarfe, and his research indicated that the cheapest way of doing so was to take over its parent company. The Trescowthick era started with growth and ended with collapse in 2001.
Sir Donald focussed Harris Scarfe's activities on its retailing business, and disposed of all of its other activities. The Rundle Mall store continued to develop as a full line department store, while the industrial products outlet at Mile End evolved to become Harry's, a large hardware retailing business. The success of Harry's led Harris Scarfe's parent company, Charles Davis Limited, to acquire other hardware retailers, including Lloyd's in South Australia, Campbell's in Queensland, and McEwans in Victoria and New South Wales.
In 1989, these hardware businesses were sold in a management buyout. The Rundle Mall department store continued to prosper, offering a broad range of items at "value for money" pricing, with aggressive advertising. Sales were facilitated by a range of purchase options, including an inhouse credit card and lay-by. Harris Scarfe's business was heavily promoted, with press and television advertising, and colourful advertising catalogues. These catalogues were broadly distributed in the Sunday Mail newspaper. As a result, Harris Scarfe built a large phone and mail order business, supported by the advertising catalogues.
In 1994, Harris Scarfe opened its first store in suburban Adelaide, at Parabanks in Salisbury. Following this successful store opening (in a former Venture store), Harris Scarfe acquired more sites in South Australia, as well as expanding its activities to other States.
During 1995, Harris Scarfe assumed control of the FitzGerald's Department Stores chain, which previously was operated as a separate subsidiary of Charles Davis Limited (since it was acquired in 1986). Also in 1995, Charles Davis Limited changed its name to Harris Scarfe Holdings Limited, and it then focussed on its department store activities - disposing of all of its other businesses and investments. Harris Scarfe continued to grow, becoming Australia's third largest department store retailer, with 38 stores, and trading in all States of Australia.
In 2000, Harris Scarfe established an online retailing subsidiary, leveraging on the existing successful mail and phone order business. As part of this expansion strategy, it acquired dStore, an online retailer which had experienced financial problems. The year 2000 was difficult for all retailers, as the Australian Government introduced a new retail turnover tax (the GST). Many retailers suffered a reduction in sales and profits after prices increased due to this new tax. Like many other retailers, Harris Scarfe felt the pressure of this trading challenge.
1990s expansion
In the 1990s, Harris Scarfe began an era of unprecedented growth, both within South Australia and interstate. It expanded from its single large store in Rundle Mall into a smaller format for suburban and regional shopping centres (several of these stores were formerly occupied by the defunct Venture chain), as well as acquiring full line department store sites from other retailers (including David Jones (Cairns, Townsville and Campbelltown NSW), John Martins (Elizabeth and Arndale), Myer (Colonnades), Centre Fair (Shepparton) and Stirlings (Albany, Bunbury and Geraldton)). This growth began from the company's base in South Australia, and was aided by the demise of the Venture chain of stores previously found throughout the country. At Harris Scarfe’s peak, the company operated 38 stores in all Australian States.
The company continued its aggressive expansion interstate, opening stores in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The company acquired a large amount of its retail space (and its largest stores) as a result of Australia’s two largest department store chains Myer and David Jones rationalising their chains. The company’s expansion into Tasmania was accelerated by the merger with the Tasmanian department store chain FitzGeralds (better known to locals as "Fitzys") in 1995. Hence, Harris Scarfe played a key role in the rationalisation of Australian retailing in the 1990s.
Bankruptcy
In 2001, Harris Scarfe's suppliers and customers, and even a large number of the company’s staff, were shocked when the thriving business was suddenly faced with cash-flow problems. The company made headlines in South Australia when concerned suppliers, from whom Harris Scarfe had purchased large amounts of stock on credit, entered the flagship store in Rundle Mall, and began retrieving their stock directly from the shelves, before shocked staff and customers.
The company soon entered voluntary receivership, and its shares were withdrawn from the Australian Stock Exchange. Examination of the company’s books revealed that assets had been re-valued well above market value in an effort to conceal its spiralling losses. This practice had left the company with multimillion-dollar debts.
Revitalisation
Harris Scarfe was sold to a private consortium, with the shareholders receiving little or no proceeds of the sale. The consortium set out to firstly stabilise the business, with possible expansion and a refloat on Australian Stock Exchange in the future.
The consortium began a store rationalisation program as a measure to help restore profits. In the days after the purchase all stores in Queensland and New South Wales, where Harris Scarfe was under represented, were closed. In its home state of South Australia, two suburban stores were closed: Munno Para in the north, and Woodcroft in the south. The same occurred in Victoria and Tasmania, with a limited number of unprofitable store closures. In the final stage of rationalisation it was decided the business would also withdraw from the Western Australian market.
The company then started a revitalisation program. The remaining stores were remodelled with new stock, new layouts and a new company logo. This was then followed by an extensive advertising campaign. As a result Harris Scarfe soon began to enjoy record sales.
Today
In 2002 Harris Scarfe opened its first new store after the revitalisation, located at Werribee in Victoria. This was seen as a major step forward for the new company and resulted with much success in the growing Werribee area. This store was divested to Myer in 2007, as part of a deal whereby Myer have acquired a minority shareholding in Harris Scarfe.
In 2004, the Allens department store chain in New South Wales and the ACT was taken over by Harris Scarfe from the Allen family.[2]
In 2006, Harris Scarfe reopened their completely refurbished store at Colonnades SA, as part of the centre's refurbishment. The store reopened with a reduction in floor-space, occupying only the ground floor of its original 3-floor store. The upper levels are planned to house a new Best and Less, JB Hi-Fi, and Cheap as Chips discount store. It was sold to Myer in 2007, along with the Elizabeth store .
In 2007, Harris Scarfe opened new stores in Sunbury and Warrnambool in Victoria. With the Forest Hill store sold to Myer, Harris Scarfe opened two new stores at Eastland Shopping Centre and one at Box Hill.
On 17 September 2008, Harris Scarfe opened a brand new store at Tea Tree Plaza in Modbury, South Australia. This store is aimed to start a new era and new attitude to Harris Scarfe. The aim of this store for Harris Scarfe is to have two specialised stores under one roof, both homewares and fashion. Unfortunately this approach has still not changed the level of acceptance of Harris Scarfe, as they are still considered as a Target and Kmart and not a Myer or David Jones of the retail world.
On 2 October 2008, Harris Scarfe rebranded its Allens stores across NSW and ACT as Harris Scarfe.[3]
In 2009, Harris Scarfe opened 2 new concept stores – hs home. hs home in Gepps Cross (South Australia) opened its doors in June and hs home The Glen (Victoria) opened in November.[citation needed]
In 2010, Harris Scarfe closed its store in Bega NSW to focus on building its Merimbula and Moruya stores on the south coast. A Harris Scarfe store was also opened in Westfield Fountain Gate, Narre Warren, Victoria.
In March 2013, Harris Scarfe launched its flagship store in Adelaide at Rundle Place with a larger focus on fashion, bringing in Vogue Australia fashion editor Christine Centenera to style a parade.[4]
Departments
Most Harris Scarfe stores, particularly the smaller format stores, carry the following departments:
- Manchester
- Homewares
- Cookware
- Personal Care & Laundry Electrical
- Kitchen Electrical
- Travel and Outdoor
- Menswear
- Womenswear
- Sportswear
The hs home stores carry the following departments:
- Manchester
- Homewares
- Cookware
- Personal Care & Laundry Electrical
- Kitchen Electrical
Like other department stores, Harris Scarfe also has its own concession departments.[citation needed]
Stores
Harris Scarfe currently has 50 stores across Australia: in South Australia (9 stores), Victoria (19 stores), Tasmania (5 stores), Queensland (2 stores), New South Wales (11 stores) and Australian Capital Territory (4 stores).
Future
On 16 March 2007 Momentum Private Equity took a controlling interest in Harris Scarfe in a deal worth $80 million. Harris Scarfe chief executive Robert Atkins said the buyout involved retailer Myer taking a 20 per cent stake in the business while the current Harris Scarfe management team would retain a 15 per cent interest.[citation needed]
Four Harris Scarfe stores also would be converted to Myer outlets: two in Adelaide (Colonnades and Elizabeth) and two in Victoria (Werribee and Forest Hill).[5] That would leave Harris Scarfe with 35 outlets in South Australia, NSW, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania. The stores in NSW and ACT currently operate under the Allens brand.[citation needed]
Long term Harris Scarfe employee Lionel Penley wrote the history of Harris Scarfe, which the company published in 1991. This book tells the story of the growth of the business, and its close links to the development of South Australia's economy.[citation needed]
In 2011, Harris Scarfe will relocate its flagship Adelaide City store within the Rundle Mall precinct. It also opened new stores in Belconnen (ACT) in March, Ballarat (Victoria) in May and a HS Home at Westfield Tuggerah (NSW) in December.[citation needed]
In 2012, Harris Scarfe is set to return to its old site at Forest Hill Chase, after being replaced by Myer in 2007.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Charles Birks were taken over by David Jones Limited, a Sydney based department store, in 1954, but the "Birks" name did not disappear from the store until the 1960s. Similarly, John Martins were taken over by David Jones (in 1982(?)), but the John Martins name did not disappear until the late 1990s.
- ↑ Atkinson, Bruce (13 September 2004). "Harris Scarfe returns to NSW". Inside Retailing.
- ↑ "Redirect image as used on former Allens web site".
- ↑ Leslie, Chanelle (31 March 2013). "Harris Scarfe fashion parade by Christine Centenera". Not So Naked.
- ↑ "Myer buys four stores in SA, Vic". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 March 2007.
- Harris Scarfe Holdings Limited 2000 Annual Report
- History of Harris Scarfe 1850-1991. Lionel Penley. Harris Scarfe Limited
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