The doors at Wollongong’s Dick Smith Electronics were open on Tuesday, but could the two-word posters splashed across the shopfront be a sign of what’s to come?
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Large red and yellow posters spruiking a ‘knockout sale’ greeted shoppers who braved inclement weather to visit the Keira Street store.
With a row of televisions against the front wall and a catalogue stand upright in the doorway, the electronic goods chain was serving customers as normal.
Shoppers were seen with electronics in hand when the Mercury visited late morning, however not all was as it seemed.
Dick Smith Holdings (DSH) entered a trading halt on Monday and, on Tuesday morning, was dealt what could be seen as its own knockout blow – placed into voluntary administration, with receivers called in to deal with debt owed to creditors.
Advisory firm McGrath Nicol was appointed as administrator, while Ferrier Hodgson was named as receiver.
The move means shoppers who had hoped to bag themselves a bargain, possibly with a gift voucher found under the Christmas tree, have been left shortchanged.
In a statement, Ferrier Hodgson said outstanding gift vouchers wouldn’t be honoured and deposits paid for goods were unable to be refunded.
“Affected customers will become unsecured creditors of the group,” the statement said.
A Mercury reader said gift cards were still being accepted by the website, but was worried about purchased items being delivered.
One shopper the Mercury spoke to outside the Wollongong store on Tuesday had successfully collected an item purchased online.
Some said they’d heard the company was in financial trouble, while another expressed his disappointment at the downfall of an Australian company.
DSH operates 393 stores across Australia, including four in the Illawarra – Wollongong, Warrawong, Dapto and Shellharbour.
Ferrier Hodgson said the company’s 3300 employees would continue to be paid, adding it was “business as usual” for all stores while the restructure took place and attempts were made to sell.
Dick Smith began in 1968 as a Sydney-based car radio installation business.
Its founder, entrepeneur Dick Smith, sold the company to Woolworths in 1982.
In 2012, Woolworths sold the business to Anchorage Capital Partners, who took DSH public in 2013.
In an ASX statement, DSH chairman Rob Murray said a lower than expected amount of cash generated by December sales left the company with no option but to appoint an administrator.
