Chickenfeed (retail chain)

Last updated

Chickenfeed
Type Discount store chain
Industry Retail
Founded1990;32 years ago (1990)
Defunct2013;9 years ago (2013)
FateCollapsed
Headquarters
Australia
Owner Jan Cameron
Website chickenfeed.com.au at the Wayback Machine (archived April 9, 2013)

Chickenfeed was a chain of discount retail stores in Australia, founded in 1990 in Tasmania by the prominent Sypkes family. At its height it had roughly 44 stores in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. [1] It was taken over by Australian Discount Retail Group in 2001, and the brand was discontinued after the parent company went into receivership. It currently has no stores remaining in Australia.

History

The company was founded by Rudie and Peter Sypkes in 1990, [2] and continued to expand until it became Tasmania's only discount retail store chain, and Rudie and Peter Sypkes continued to run Chickenfeed until 2001, when the retail chain was sold to the Australian Discount Retail Group.

In 2009 Australian millionaire Jan Cameron purchased the parent company, Australian Discount Retail and ownership changed to Retail Adventures Pty Ltd. [3] Following the change of ownership, it was announced that all Go-Lo, Crazy Clark's and Sam's Warehouse stores would be rebranded Chickenfeed over the next five years. Soon after it was announced that nine new Chickenfeed stores were to be opened in Victoria to test the mainland market. The last of these was opened in August, and nearly 20 stores were eventually opened across the mainland.

Store closure began in October 2012 with up to 20 Chickenfeed stores in Tasmania closed or closure was announced without explanation, including a Launceston (Prospect Vale) store which was forcibly reclaimed by security guards of the company which owned the complex it was situated in, after the company did not pay its rent, as well as a similar situation in its store in Centrepoint Shopping Centre, Hobart. [4] [5]

On 27 October 2012, parent company Retail Adventures was placed in administration. Owner Jan Cameron continued to operate the profitable stores under a licence from the administrators. The Chickenfeed rebranding has ceased, with the Chickenfeed brand to disappear altogether. Any remaining profitable stores after a restructure were rebranded as "Crazy Clark's" or "Sam's Warehouse". [6]

During the period of administration, concern had been expressed by company staff that one of the primary reasons behind the changes and eventual closure of stores was due to the high rent imposed on the stores by the landlords, the Sypkes family. [7] The Sypkes family hold a 50% share in the Shiploads discount chain, and a number of Shiploads discount stores have opened in locations that previously held Chickenfeed stores.

All stores were closed on May 20, 2013, excluding the Southern Tasmania Clearance Centre which was rebranded to Sam's Warehouse in mid October 2013.

Related Research Articles

Variety store Retail store that sells a wide range of inexpensive household goods

A variety store is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells them at discounted prices, sometimes at one or several fixed price points, such as one dollar, or historically, five and ten cents. Variety stores do not include larger formats: general merchandise superstores (hypermarkets) such as Target and Walmart. Warehouse clubs like Costco, grocery stores, and department stores are also not considered variety stores.

Poundstretcher British discount store chain

Poundstretcher is a chain of discount stores operating in the United Kingdom. It is based in Desford, Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire.

A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Warehouse Group</span> New Zealand retail group

The Warehouse Group (TWG) was founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, and is the largest retail group operating in New Zealand. It is a corporate group that consists of The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Torpedo7, Noel Leeming, 1-day and TheMarket.

Warehouse club Retail store offering merchandise at wholesale prices

A warehouse club is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers may buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunters and small business owners. The clubs are able to keep prices low due to the no-frills format of the stores. In addition, customers may be required to pay annual membership fees in order to shop.

Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, until it was sold to the Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers in January 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woolworths Supermarkets</span> Supermarket chain in Australia

Woolworths is an Australian chain of supermarkets and grocery stores owned by Woolworths Group. Founded in 1924, Woolworths today is Australia's biggest supermarket chain with a market share of 33% as of 2019.

Go-Lo Former Australian discount chain

Go-Lo was a chain of Australian discount variety stores with hundreds of stores throughout Australia. It was part of the largest discount retailer group in Australia. It was owned by Jan Cameron's Retail Adventures along with Sam's Warehouse, Crazy Clark's and Chickenfeed stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Reject Shop</span>

The Reject Shop Limited is an Australian discount variety store chain selling a range of goods such as food, snacks, gift cards and party, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, storage, kitchenware, homewares and seasonal items in 356 store locations across Australia.

DSG Holdings Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Discount Superstores Group was a discount variety retailer in Australia, formed in 2013 following the liquidation of former company Retail Adventures. It owned the Sam's Warehouse and Crazy Clark's brands, operating 143 stores. It is owned by Australian-New Zealand businesswoman Jan Cameron. It was announced on 1 July 2014 that the chain has entered receivership for the fourth time in 8 years.

Crazy Clark's Discount Variety Store was an Australian company that operated over 150 discount variety stores in its chain, across Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia. The company also owned and operated a chain store called Go-Lo.

Rudie Sypkes was an Australian businessman from Tasmania. Sypkes was the co-founder of the Chickenfeed retail chain.

Clint's Crazy Bargains was established in November 1978, as a partnership between David and Kerry Rickards, and Norm and Sue O'Neill.

Sam's Warehouse was an Australian brand of discount retail stores, similar to Crazy Clark's. It was founded in 2008 after The Warehouse sold its Australian operations to Australian Discount Retail, and the stores were required to be re-branded.

The Sypkes are a prominent business family from Tasmania, Australia. They came to prominence after they immigrated to Tasmania from the Netherlands, where Engel Sypkes went on to found the Purity supermarket chain in 1958. The chain was sold in 1981, at the time encompassing 16 stores.

City Chic Collective (CCC), founded as Miller's Retail in 1992, and rebranded in December 2006 to Specialty Fashion Group, is an Australian retail clothing company. It is headquartered in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria.

References

  1. ↑ ARNDT, DINAH (12 October 2012). "Fears for Chickenfeed".
  2. ↑ "Sypkes Family". www.utas.edu.au.
  3. ↑ http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/03/23/62905_todays-news.html [ bare URL ]
  4. ↑ MARTIN, COREY (21 October 2012). "City's cheap outlet closes doors".
  5. ↑ "Jobs lost as Chickenfeed shuts shops". ABC News. 18 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Retail Adventures Goes Into Administration". Herald Sun. 27 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  7. ↑ Clark, Nick (22 September 2012). "Chickenfeed flies the coop". The Mercury. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.