Smiths City - will it be the next 'Dick Smith'?

Forums › Off topic › Smiths City - will it be the next 'Dick Smith'?

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#2492449 27-May-2020 07:44

quickymart:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121625411/smiths-city-advertises-for-new-staff-days-after-making-115-redundant

Email yesterday to say its BAU, full steam ahead, and today that they have a sale on

Hammerer

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#2492471 27-May-2020 08:33

Smiths City has not done well in the North Island. They take established brands, rename them and then have to close them up here. I'm pretty sure that this is the second time they have gone into receivership and started again with a smaller footprint.

In the late 1980s, they bought up all the major appliance and furniture stores in the South Island and then expanded into the North Island after their public listing in 1989(?). Those North Island stores were closed down in the late 1990s.

They bought Wellington-based LV Martin & Son in 2006, renaming them in 2015(?), and bought out the Furniture City chain in 2017 to get them outlets in Auckland. Now they are again closing most of their North Island stores. I think that only two Auckland stores are left.

Handsomedan

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#2492481 27-May-2020 08:37

Hammerer:

I think that only two Auckland stores are left.

Nope - checked their website and the only remaining store in Auckland is marked as "closing down"...in Mt Wellington

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quickymart

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#2492497 27-May-2020 08:59

Hammerer:

In the late 1980s, they bought up all the major appliance and furniture stores in the South Island and then expanded into the North Island after their public listing in 1989(?). Those North Island stores were closed down in the late 1990s.

I wonder if they bought the RTS chain? I seem to remember they were everywhere in the South Island in the 1980s.

vexxxboy

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#2492502 27-May-2020 09:07

Hammerer:

Smiths City has not done well in the North Island. They take established brands, rename them and then have to close them up here. I'm pretty sure that this is the second time they have gone into receivership and started again with a smaller footprint.

In the late 1980s, they bought up all the major appliance and furniture stores in the South Island and then expanded into the North Island after their public listing in 1989(?). Those North Island stores were closed down in the late 1990s.

They bought Wellington-based LV Martin & Son in 2006, renaming them in 2015(?), and bought out the Furniture City chain in 2017 to get them outlets in Auckland. Now they are again closing most of their North Island stores. I think that only two Auckland stores are left.

they are doing ok in the Bay of Plenty, where they took over the Meikles stores in Whakatane, Kawerau, Edgecumbe, Opotiki and Rotorua , so they dont tend to have the competition in the smaller towns.

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trig42

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#2492514 27-May-2020 09:27

quickymart:

Hammerer:

In the late 1980s, they bought up all the major appliance and furniture stores in the South Island and then expanded into the North Island after their public listing in 1989(?). Those North Island stores were closed down in the late 1990s.

I wonder if they bought the RTS chain? I seem to remember they were everywhere in the South Island in the 1980s.

I'm not sure what happened to RTS. I think they morphed into Retravision (since gone) and Furniture Court. The one where I live did anyway.

I think Retravision then maybe somehow morphed into 100%, or the owners (they were all owner operated I think) changed to 100% in a lot of cases.

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quickymart

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#2492615 27-May-2020 10:32

vexxxboy:

Hammerer:

Smiths City has not done well in the North Island. They take established brands, rename them and then have to close them up here. I'm pretty sure that this is the second time they have gone into receivership and started again with a smaller footprint.

In the late 1980s, they bought up all the major appliance and furniture stores in the South Island and then expanded into the North Island after their public listing in 1989(?). Those North Island stores were closed down in the late 1990s.

They bought Wellington-based LV Martin & Son in 2006, renaming them in 2015(?), and bought out the Furniture City chain in 2017 to get them outlets in Auckland. Now they are again closing most of their North Island stores. I think that only two Auckland stores are left.

they are doing ok in the Bay of Plenty, where they took over the Meikles stores in Whakatane, Kawerau, Edgecumbe, Opotiki and Rotorua , so they dont tend to have the competition in the smaller towns.

Agreed, I know they do quite well in Greymouth. But there isn't a great deal of competition around there either (only really Noel Leeming, who don't do furniture there).

quickymart

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#2492617 27-May-2020 10:33

trig42:

I'm not sure what happened to RTS. I think they morphed into Retravision (since gone) and Furniture Court. The one where I live did anyway.

I think Retravision then maybe somehow morphed into 100%, or the owners (they were all owner operated I think) changed to 100% in a lot of cases.

I remember Retravision! There was one in Greymouth. And 100%...I also remember Bond and Bond...sorry, showing my age here...

Rikkitic

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#2492651 27-May-2020 11:09

quickymart:

I also remember Bond and Bond...sorry, showing my age here...

Bond and Bond wasn't that long ago.

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alasta

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#2492828 27-May-2020 14:18

I think Lanes got absorbed into Bond + Bond didn't they?

Bond + Bond become a pointless carbon copy of Noel Leeming when Pacific Retail owned both of them.

antonknee

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#2493192 27-May-2020 21:55

Awww Bond and Bond... my first real job was at Bonds.

The redundancies followed by job postings so quickly is a bit of a kick in the teeth for those made redundant - would have to assume though none of those redundancies were at stores now with job openings.

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DjShadow

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#2494361 29-May-2020 13:56

Just been to the Lower Hutt store, place already looking like a bomb site in the middle of a closing down sale which is what they do have. The guy said they are sending everything out now at Cost Price before closing the store next friday. There were a few TVs left, plenty of whiteware.

The sales rep I talked to who still had his card from the LV Martin days said the Lower Hutt store was actually doing ok sales wise but the new owner wasn't interested in how much rent they were paying given they had most of the 2nd floor in the Harvey Norman Centre.

antonknee

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#2494375 29-May-2020 14:41

I'm told Rotorua and Whakatane are the best performing stores in the North Island. This is saying something as the Rotorua store apparently doesn't perform very well and gets generally very low foot traffic.

quickymart

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#2494580 29-May-2020 19:02

Whakatane would do alright though, not much else nearby (Tauranga is a bit of a drive).

Zeon

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#2496329 1-Jun-2020 23:33

Bought a couch marked as $2999 for $1495 (showed as $2299 on Priceme) and 2x Denon Heos1 HS2 for $197 instead of $399 each (bit of a spur of the moment, didn't check the reviews!). They didn't offer any discounts at all except on the delivery. They also claimed that Smith City would honour all warranties.

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