By James Wells

SYDNEY: Bing Lee yesterday placed an advertisement in a Sydney newspaper outlining plans to open up to 11 more sites in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

In the Sun Herald advertisement titled ‘Retail Locations Sought’, Bing Lee used a map of New South Wales to openly pinpoint 11 potential locations for stores in metropolitan and regional areas.

The sites included – Hurstville, Mt Druitt, Northern Beaches, Richmond and Taren Point in the Sydney metropolitan area as well as the Southern Highlands and Port Macquarie locations in regional New South Wales.

Additional sites were also named in the Australian Capital Territory at Woden, Belconnen and Queanbeyan.

The advertisement also stated: “All other locations considered”.

According to the advertisement, Bing Lee management requires “good retail premises” which are preferably a bulky goods classification between a minimum of 1,000 square metres and a maximum of 3,000 square metres.

Other criteria mentioned included “good parking” and “delivery access”.

At the bottom of the advertisement, interested parties were asked to contact Bing Lee franchise and property manager, Ben Nursoo.

Nursoo today told Current.com.au that the advertisement was not aimed at existing electrical retailers in the areas highlighted.

“This advertisement was absolutely not aimed at existing electrical retailers. It was for retail landlords who either have a development in progress or an existing site and would like to have a blue chip retailer as a tenant within their property or development. That is not to say that existing retailers will not call us – but that is not how the advertisement was conceived," he said.

Bing Lee director, Lionel Lee, told Current.com.au that there are options for existing tenants as well as developers.

"If there is a retail location up for lease or if a developer wants to sell a site, we are prepared to look at it." he said.

Nursoo said the response to the advertisement was “unbelievable” and “there was quite a backlog of calls to go through”.

The 11 locations mentioned in the advertisement were deliberately chosen, according to Nursoo.

“They are areas we have pinpointed as being strategic to our business. Our presence would be enhanced by having retail outlets in those sites,” he said.

Last week, Bing Lee announced it had purchased the Sony Chatswood store and is looking to open additional Sony stores in Sydney and Canberra. Lee estimates that Sydney can sustain up to five Sony Central stores as well as a store in Canberra.

“Sony is a leading brand and we look forward to strengthening our already strong relationship,” Lee told current.com.au last week.

The privately-owned Bing Lee business is a member of the Narta group and currently has 36 shopfronts including one store at Fyshwick in the ACT and two Sony Central stores located at World Square and Chatswood in Sydney.