By James Wells
ALICE SPRINGS: Retravision chairman Bill Harries has announced that his retail group will add 26 shopfronts and grow by $500 million over the next three years and it appears the Narta member and Retravision-killer, Bing Lee, is the main target.
Harries confirmed Retravision plans to grow purchases from $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion within three years with the addition of 26 additional shopfronts which will primarily be focused on the New South Wales and Canberra areas.
“Smaller stores will inevitably lose and smaller stores will be replaced by larger stores. It is necessary to develop a critical mass of large format stores – it is our key priority to develop Retravision brand in New South Wales.
“We are aware of these areas we need to target – large footprint stores in metropolitan Sydney and Canberra and we will look at Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie as well as Newcastle.
“It is also necessary to expand our stores in major regional centres which is a traditional stronghold which our competitors have shown a desire in.
“The size and shape of our existing stores will have to change for us to remain competitive.”
Narta member Bing Lee, which boasts sales of over $350 million in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is an obvious competitor to Retravision in this ambitious expansion plan.
Bing Lee recently opened its second store in the ACT at Belconnen which was formerly a Retravision store and will next week celebrate the opening of its Port Macquarie store, which was also a Retravision store.
Ironically, Bing Lee itself was once a member of the Retravision group in New South Wales.