Almost 18 months after a fire destroyed his former premise, Ian Westcott has reopened his Betta Home Living store in Parkes, a town of just over 10,000 residents in central west New South Wales, 350 kilometres west of Sydney.
The opening of the new store brings to an end two years of flux for Westcott and his team. Twenty-four months ago, both the Parkes outlet and Westcott’s other store in Forbes, 34 kilometres south, were Retravision stores. Following the collapse of the several Retravision groups, the Westcotts switch to the Betta group and, with that moved, joined the Narta family.
Only three months after rebranding the store to Betta Home Living, a fire gutted the Parkes store. At the time, Westcott described the fire as devastating but thankfully no-one was injured. That was June 2013: it has been a long road back to trading for Westcott, but the new and improved premises have made it worth the wait.
“The new store allows for four times the stock of our old store, meaning we can buy more competitively to offer stronger discounts to our valued customers,” he said. “The rebuild is just one part of our ongoing commitment to the people of Parkes.”
The new store cost around $2 million to built and will employ seven full time staff. The official gala opening will be held at 6:30pm on Thursday 6 December 2014 and will be attended by Betta Stores Retail Group CEO Graeme Cunningham.
“The Betta group is continuing its significant growth in regional Australia and the Parkes Betta store is just one of many Betta stores that continue to invest into their local communities,” Cunningham said in anticipation of the opening event.
Westcott has said that to celebrate the store’s reopening, he will be offering discounts on stock items across both the Parkes and Forbes stores.
The Betta Home Living store is located at 11 Saleyards Road, Parkes, New South Wales.
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