Retail Adventures to Cut 630 Jobs

Retail Adventures will cut as many as 630 jobs by the end of November. The discount chain is in the process of closing 32 stores across Tasmania, Victoria and NSW.

According to Vaughan Strawbridge, affected employees would receive their redundancy payout by Christmas. Strawbridge leads Deloitte administrators who were tasked to manage the redundancy.

Kathmandu owner Jan Cameron appointed the administrators team.

According to Cameron, she would continue running Retail Adventures, which is now under license from Deloitte administrations. She expressed confidence that she would be able to purchase it back.

Cameron is the only secured creditor of Retail Adventures with secured loans of about $80 million.

About 5,000 employees work for the Crazy Clark and Sam’s Warehouse brands. The two also have about 238 stores. Go-Lo and Chickenfeed, including the 630 employees, would go.

Retail Adventures have been faced with unprofitable stores and high overhead costs. The company almost collapsed in 2009.

Vaughn said about 60 stores have been shut down in the last 12 months with 10 more stores facing closure. The closure would be in full effect after all stocks have been sold.