Godfreys Shellharbour will close in the next 14 days as the national vacuum retailer enters administration.
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The Shellharbour store is one of more than 50 Godfreys locations that are slated for closure, after the privately owned group appointed administrators on Tuesday, January 30.
In a statement released on Tuesday, 171 staff across the country would be let go as part of the store closures. It is not known how many are currently employed in Shellharbour.
Craig Crosbie, Robert Ditrich and Daniel Walley of PwC Australia have been appointed as administrators and Mr Crosbie said the decision was made as part of a challenging retail environment.
"Like many retailers, Godfreys has faced a challenging economic and operating environment. Lower customer demand amid cost of living pressures, higher operating costs, and increased competition have all taken a toll on profitability, with some stores more impacted than others," he said.
The Fairy Meadow store will remain open.
The national vacuum retailer had been struggling for some time. The company was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange by 99 year old co-founder John Johnston in 2018 after the company failed to capitalise on the popularity of cordless stick vacuums and rival retailers such as Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi stocked the in-demand Dyson brand.
Dire retail sales figures at the end of 2023 would have also put pressure on the company, with ABS figures released on Tuesday showing retail turnover fell by 2.7 per cent in the normally busy December period.
"The large fall in retail turnover in December was caused by a fall in discretionary spending. Consumers brought forward some of their usual December spending to November to take advantage of Black Friday sales," ABS head of retail statistics Ben Dorber said.
However, administrators were upbeat about the future of the brand, with the aim to sell the business.
"Our aim is to move quickly to restructure Godfreys to preserve as much of the business and as many jobs as possible," Mr Crosbie said. "We intend to trade the restructured store network and sell the business and assets as a going concern, with strong interest expected from prospective buyers."