By James Wells
BRISBANE: Betta Stores Limited (BSL) chief executive officer, Guy Houghton, has re-confirmed his commitment to the company’s new franchise agreement, despite the departure of six members to Narta member, Bi-Rite Electrical.
“In addition to my comments in Monday’s Current, I reconfirm that some of our franchisees need to make a decision as their current agreements are due for renewal,” Houghton said this afternoon.
“What I will add to this comment however is that sometimes the decision is being made by the franchisee and some times by the franchisor.
“Again I do not like losing any retailer from the group, but as has been proven so many times before, nothing stays the same forever and the new BSL Group emerging from these changes will be stronger and more focused than ever before.”
Earlier this week, high profile BSL members, Murray Neck Betta Electrical and Electrical Discounters, both announced that they will be joining the Narta group on Friday 1 September.
Six BSL stores located at Fairfield, Merrylands, Liverpool in Sydney as well as Hopper’s Crossing and Broadmeadow in Victoria and Archerfield in Queensland have joined the Bi-Rite Electrical franchise which also operates stores under the HomElectrix brands.
All six stores have been added to the Narta website as active members.
The large number of stores leaving the BSL group has coincided with a new franchise agreement which some retailers have described as restrictive.
Houghton confirmed that the process of signing up members to the new agreement is progressing as expected.
“I can confirm that the majority of agreements are now either returned or in transit,” he said.