Venture (department store)

Venture was a chain of discount department stores that operated in Australia between 1970 and 1994.

Bought by the South Australian department store John Martins (and unrelated to the defunct North American chain of the same name; see Venture Stores), Venture is best remembered as a retailer of medium quality women's and children's clothing as well as soft home wares.

Venture experienced financial difficulties in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was placed in liquidation in April 1994, with all stores closing soon after.

History

Venture was established by the South Australian-based department store John Martins in 1970, with the initial stores based in South Australia.

During the 1970s the chain expanded into the easten states of Australia, with stores opening in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

In 1981 parent company John Martins was taken over by Solomon Lew and subsequently sold to the Melbourne-based Cooke family, headed by David Cooke. The John Martins business was subsequently sold to Sydney-based retailer David Jones Limited in 1985, with the Cooke family retaining ownership of Venture.

The Cooke family appointed experienced retailer Bob Burke to manage the chain in 1981,[1] who revitalised the chain, closing unprofitable stores and changing the merchandise focus to budget priced, quality apparel aimed mainly at women, teenage girls and children.

During his first 3 years, turnover doubled and profitability increased, aided by a focus on own-branded merchandise which was not subject to competitor comparison.

In February 1987 Venture purchased the Waltons (department store) chain from Alan Bond,[2] consisting of 47 Waltons and Norman Ross stores, plus the South Australian-based J. Miller Anderson & Co. department store business, which closed in 1988.

The Waltons stores were converted to Venture outlets, which increased the number of stores to 70 across all states of Australia except Western Australia.

Demise and closure

In the late 1980s Venture faced increasing competition from its main competitors Big W, Kmart Australia and Target Australia, which had larger store networks, bigger stores (and higher average sales per store) and better economies of scale.

The Cooke family announced plans to float Venture in February 1989 to help reduce the high debt levels, but these plans were scrapped in favour of a capital restructure, which included a debt for equity swap.

In 1992 Venture was placed into receivership, and was purchased from the receivers for A$12 million by a joint venture between the New Zealand-based department store chain Farmers Deka (now Farmers Trading Company) and the Perth-based companies Action Holdings and Vox.

In December 1992 Farmers Deka acquired 100% of Venture, with ownership passing to Western Australian-based grocery wholesaler and retailer Foodland Associated Limited (FAL), a former Australian company later acquired by IGA (Australian supermarket group).

In the 1993 FAL annual report it was written "Venture's management has made significant progress in establishing and repositioning Venture's image as a destination store by merchandising every day repeat purchase items at competitive prices while maintaining its focus on the female with young children as the primary customer base."

However, on 24 February 1994 Venture was placed into administration.[3]

The announcement from FAL included the statement "The directors of FAL decided to discontinue support after a comprehensive review over the past 4 weeks. This review process did not satisfy the directors that Venture had a viable future and it was, therefore, in the best interests of FAL shareholders that it be sold or wound up as soon as possible".

Following an 8-week sale process it was announced on 16 April 1994 that Venture had been placed in liquidation due to the failure of negotiations with potential buyers of the business.[4]

The closing down sale commenced on 16 April 1994, with all 45 stores closing on or before 14 May 1994.

Former store locations

The following listing contains all Venture stores that operated during its 24-year history. Not all these locations were open at the time Venture ceased operations in May 1994.

South Australia

Tasmania

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

References

  1. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald (19 February 1987). "New Chief an old hand".
  2. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald (19 February 1987). "Venture buys Waltons stores".
  3. ↑ The Australian Financial Review newspaper (24 February 1994). "Administrator appointed to Venture".
  4. ↑ The Australian newspaper (16 April 1994). "No buyers so Venture placed in liquidation".
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