By ALENA HIGGINS
DISCOUNT retail giant Crazy Clark’s has been placed in receivership, putting an estimated 24 jobs at risk in the Southern Downs, which is home to two of its stores.
The future of Crazy Clark’s Warwick and Stanthorpe was plunged into doubt earlier this month when DSG Holdings Australia (DSG), the company behind Crazy Clark’s and Sam’s Warehouse, was put into the hands of corporate advisory firm KordaMentha Restructuring.
The company owes at least $20 million to trade creditors and another $10 million in staff entitlements.
It follows a horror start to the year for the region’s employment sector, which felt the brunt of more than 50 job losses in May after the shock closure of five iconic bakeries and a cafe.
More than 66 people were left unemployed after the Stanthorpe Famous Pie shop, Quart Pot Creek Bakery, Stanthorpe Bakehouse, the Little Cake and Coffee Shop, Tenterfield Famous Pie Shop and Warwick Famous Pie Shop closed their doors.
Adding insult to injury, late last month Integria Healthcare announced it would begin relocating its packaging operations currently undertaken at its Warwick site, resulting in “unavoidable” redundancies – reportedly 14.
Another person to feel the pinch of changing tides is Showtime Saddlery owner Gina Doulis, who shut her Palmerin Street store for good after eight years on Saturday, opting to transition to online sales instead.
The businesswoman said she had only just got back on her feet in 2009 following the equine influenza outbreak of late 2007 when she began noticing a decline.
“It started to slow because people who had been caught up in the influenza found other things to do and the horse industry changed because there were so many online sites,” Ms Doulis said.
“Because we are rural, most people are used to buying online as they can’t get things locally and that overflowed into the horse areas, which is what I am doing.
“Showtime Saddlery will continue, just in a different form.”
DSG employs about 2,500 staff and operates 144 Crazy Clark’s and Sam’s Warehouse stores nationwide – 68 in Queensland.
A KordaMentha spokesman confirmed 10 stores had already closed and 111 staff had been retrenched.
He said Crazy Clark’s Warwick and Stanthorpe would learn their fate by the end of the week, when more closures were announced.
Staff entitlements are not expected to be paid until at least September, pursuant to the business being sold.
The general decline in the retail sector and particularly the decreased demand for discretionary items like those found in the discount retails chains have been cited as reasons for DSG’s collapse.
