By Sarah Falson
BRISBANE: After describing its first week of business and subsequent sales as “brisk” BSR today announced it will open a new Betta Electrical store before the end of the year, which will be the third store to open under the new management team.
The 1200 square metre Kawana Betta Electrical Superstore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, and the 1600 square metre Cranbourne Betta Electrical in Victoria both opened at the beginning of November, during the Betta Electrical retail consortium’s first week of trading as BSR.
Located in one of the country’s largest homemaker centres, the Kawana superstore will specialise in whitegoods, kitchen equipment, IT and home theatre, while the Cranbourne shop will focus on communications, IT, home theatre and digital and whitegoods.
The location of and information about the third new store, which will be open before the New Year, has not yet been announced.
“BSR has welcomed two new retailers in the past week with the opening of Kawana and Cranbourne and we’re looking forward to announcing the addition of a third new store before the end of the year,” said BSR retailer and board member, Everard Johnson, in a press release distributed by the company this morning.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start for BSR in our first week of official trading. We’re looking forward to a strong Christmas and welcoming more new franchisees on board ion the early part of the New Year,” he said.
“The market is telling us they love the fresh new layout and product ranges of our superstores and our trading results are backing that up.”
Betta Stores Limited (BSL) was last month placed into administration, and the brand was acquired by Betta Electrical and Chandlers retail chains, with BSR Australia Ltd created to “meet the buying and marketing requirements of the group,” according to the company.
The announcement of the three new Betta Electrical superstores coincides with a Current.com.au report last week that the Kiama Betta Electrical store will close down at the end of the month. Owner of the store and former BSL chairman and newly-appointed franchise manager for the new BSR retail group, Patrick Tynan, said his 200 square metre electrical store was deemed too small to compete with the 1000 square metres on average superstores.
“The lease is up and the store is too small to be a viable retailer in the town,” Tynan said.
“I have spent the last two years talking to council and there are no bulky goods sites allocated in Kiama – only 100-150 square metre sites. The landlord has told me he can get more money from a tourist store on the site.”