By Grant Shepherd
Australian retail giant Harvey Norman yesterday announced the closure of its Domayne store in Campbelltown, a direct repercussion of the global credit crisis.
The decision has come as a shock to the retail world and even more of a shock to the 41 staff who lost their jobs as a result of the sudden closure.
Gerry Harvey late last year described the current financial crisis as “the worst he has seen in 47 years in business as consumers cut back on discretionary spending”.
It has been reported that as many as 10 stores could be in jeopardy by the end of 2009.
As well as this, Australian Discount Retail (ADR), responsible for stores such as Go-Lo, Sam’s Warehouse and Crazy Clarks has collapsed leaving almost $100 million in debt and over 2700 staff being worried about their future across the 402 stores across the country.
ADR was placed in receivership yesterday and owes the hefty sum to secured creditors NAB Capital, ANZ and HBOS.
Evidently the financial crisis is hitting very hard at the moment, and retailers are facing the consequences of the changing spending habits of the Australian consumer.
This combined with the latest news of job cuts at David Jones, proves that this may be just another addition to the ever growing list of store closures, job losses and product withdrawals in the Australian retail marketplace.