By ALENA HIGGINS
WARWICK is set to lose one of its longest standing agricultural businesses after it was forced to restructure.
David Evans Group will close three of its seven country dealerships at Warwick, Boonah and Biloela by the end of November to focus on its profitable stores.
The company, which specialises in farming machinery and parts, has been a familiar local business name since the Evans family first established a store in Boonah in the 1950s and grew organically to have dealerships across South East Queensland.
Director Kurt Evans said the company had completed an extensive review of operations, involving all its staff in performance measures, and the need to restructure to be truly commercial and able to grow in the future was clear.
“We have always been a ‘big’ little family-owned business and we’re very aware of the commercial pressures in our market that have made this decision necessary,” Mr Evans said.
“We have proven that small dealerships are no longer viable in small markets today and this is a prudent measure to ensure our viability and that our remaining dealerships in Gatton, Toowoomba, Brisbane and Nambour can grow.
“We’ve built significant history in the Darling Downs and we’re committed to South East Queensland – our focus is on supporting performing dealerships that will now have even greater market opportunities.”
The store in Warwick was opened in the early 1960s by Mr Evan’s grandfather David Evans and his dad Robin worked in the business as well as just a handful of staff.
“The equipment that was held at Boonah was large scale and people from the Downs would buy it and have to get it transported back to the Downs, so the family decided to open a closer/more central branch in Warwick,” Mr Evans said.
He said agriculture was prosperous at that time – everyone had some small crops like barley, wheat and lucerne, which was worth a lot of money.
“Over time, especially in the past 10 years there has been a decline of margins in the agricultural industry,” he said.
“There has been an awful lot of farmers and a lot of younger people leaving the area, which continues today.”
Mr Evans visited each of the closing dealerships to speak personally with staff and many have been relocated to remaining stores.
“As a family company we value trust and teamwork and we will appropriately support all exiting staff from the dealerships we must close during this process,” he said.
