JB Hi-Fi CEO Terry Smart has reconfirmed the short-term focus for e&s will remain in Victoria as the company prepares further expansion in its home state.
In an exclusive interview with Smart at the opening of the 11th e&s store at Epping in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Smart echoed sentiments from JB Hi-Fi COO Nick Wells at the e&s conference earlier this year that there is still further work planned with store rollout in Melbourne before taking on a state by state national expansion.
“The new Epping store is fantastic. This is the 11th store for e&s, but importantly the first under the new ownership structure,” Smart said.
“I think e&s resonates so strongly with Victorians – our job now is to roll out those points of presence across Victoria and this is the start of it – I couldn’t be more excited.”
“We think there is a lot of opportunity right around the state,” Smart said, without indicating in detail the number of stores or the potential locations.
Following the opening of the e&s Epping showroom in Northern Melbourne last week, the company has nine other showrooms in Melbourne and one showroom in Canberra.
The only other showroom on the northern side of Melbourne is located at Preston – this store was opened in February 2019.
The business has a high concentration of stores in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne with existing locations in Abbotsford, Prahran, Hawthorn, Blackburn and the flagship store in Chadstone that was opened in December 2023.
In the South East of Melbourne, e&s has a store in Moorabbin as well as a Clearance Outlet in Clayton and its warehouse and support centre in Noble Park.
In addition to the Geelong store, that is located an hour to the south from Melbourne, e&s has only one store in the western suburbs of Melbourne – Essendon – which would suggest there is more potential for additional stores in western Melbourne.
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