By Claire Reilly
Retravision may be set to lose one of its highest profile store owners and a significant player in the restructure of the national business. Ian Ray, owner of the Swan Hill Retravision store in Victoria and a key figure in Retravision Southern has responded to rumours about his future with the company, telling Current.com.au that he is considering leaving the group.
“I’m looking at it,” Ray said. “I’m certainly looking at it, I wouldn’t deny looking at it. But I’ve done nothing about it yet. We’re still getting stock through direct payments and so forth with the suppliers, and I’m not going to rush in.
“I’ll have a look at them [Betta], I’ll have a look at how Retravision settles down, and then we’re looking at another one as well. To be honest, I’ve not signed a thing with anybody.”
Ray would not disclose which other retail groups he was considering, but said that “there’s been a number of them offering their services.
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“We’re looking at Betta, we’re re-looking at Retravision to see what’s going on. Now that we don’t have the pressure of central accounting – where you rely on everybody else to pay their bills as well – Retravision becomes a better proposition quite frankly."
The BSR Group – parent company of the Betta and Betta Home Living retail chains – announced last month that it had received calls from a large number of Retravision proprietors looking to defect to BSR. For his part, Ray said he was counselling members to look at all the options on the table.
“I’ve certainly encouraged everybody to look at what’s on offer,” said Ray. “That’s what I said to them – look what’s on offer and make your own choices. I’m not recommending they go anywhere. They can make their own choices.
“A lot of the members were really peeved off about how this all happened and the way it worked out. But you should never make decisions when you’re emotional. I nearly made that mistake myself a few weeks ago.”