By Claire Reilly
Two days after Harvey Norman confirmed Joyce Mayne Wagga Wagga will close its doors, Joyce Mayne general manager Paul English has confirmed a second store is set to close by the end of June.
Joyce Mayne Bennetts Green, located south of Newcastle in eastern New South Wales, will close when its lease expires on 30 June 2013, due to poor financial performance.
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Speaking to Current.com.au, English said the company had reviewed the figures across its network of stores, and both the Wagga Wagga and Bennetts Green stores (which are held under leasehold) were no longer profitable.
“It’s purely a commercial decision on whether the stores are profitable or not,” said English. “We continue to see some value in having the three brand strategy [Harvey Norman, Domayne and Joyce Mayne are all part of the Derni Retail group] and we’re going to continually drive those opportunities. But some of the stores need to do a certain level of volume to remain profitable.
“So it was a purely decision made on financial numbers, nothing to do with the brand, nothing to do with the people involved, it just came down to that quite simply,” he added. “The leases are up for renewal, and the decision was that it wasn’t going to be worth our while to renew the leases.
“As businesses come up for review, we make a decision where there’s a future in a location, and we always try to take into consideration a long-term view, rather than just a reactionary view.”
Both Wagga Wagga and Bennetts Green are set to be wound down by 30 June, with sales to clear stock at Wagga Wagga being “mirrored” at Bennetts Green.
Roughly 15 staff are expected to be affected by the Bennetts Green closure, but English said the company would do its best to look after those employees.
“We’ve explained it to the necessary parties and everyone understands that it’s a commercial decision,” he said. “We always try and make sure we can accommodate staff wherever possible. It’s never going to be 100 per cent. But one of the best things about this company is that the interests of staff are always put ahead of a lot of things which is good.”
English denied that the decision this week to close 2 of its 14 stores was part of a wider strategy to wind down the Joyce Mayne business in Australia.
“Like all smart retailers, you’re constantly realigning your business to meet the market needs, and we’ve done that, and we’re pretty confident moving forward that we won’t have any issues with any further locations.
“We’re getting some good results out of a lot of our locations, despite the tough retail market, so we’re quite upbeat. You never want to close a store — nobody ever wants to see that happen to any business. But we’re in a tough retail environment.
“The market’s adapting, and you’ve got to adapt with it.”