Venture was a chain of
discount department stores
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made ...
that operated in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
between 1970 and 1994.
Unrelated to the defunct North American chain of the same name (see
Venture Stores
Venture Stores, Inc., was a chain of retail stores aimed at the discount department-store market. John Geisse, formerly of Target Stores, and May Department Stores' executive vice president, Dave Babcock, founded the chain in 1968. Venture Store ...
), Venture is best remembered as a retailer of medium quality women's and children's clothing as well as soft homewares.
The Hobart outlet was also notable for having an in-store restaurant called Charlie's.
Venture experienced financial difficulties in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was placed in liquidation in April 1994, with all stores closing soon after.
History
The first Venture store opened in
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...
in 1970, followed by
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
, with additional stores opening across
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
over the next two years. The business was started by Bob Lee, Robert Morris and Bernie Buckley. Bob Lee started his retail career with Lindsay & McKenzie in Geelong, which later became
Target Australia
Target Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Lindsay's and Lindsay's Target, formerly stylised as Target. and doing business as Target and Target Australia) is a department store chain owned by Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmers. Target stocks ...
. All three worked at Target Stores prior to forming Venture Stores.
In November 1972, the business expanded into
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, opening a store at
Merrylands
Merrylands is a suburb in Western Sydney, Australia. Merrylands is located west of the Sydney central business district and is in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Cumberland Council, New South Wales, Cumberland Ci ...
shopping complex. At that time there was a total of 16 stores across Victoria.
Additional stores in NSW at
Mount Druitt
Mount Druitt is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown, and is part of the Greater Western Sydney regio ...
and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
followed in 1973. The merchandise range at that time included "a wide range of women's fashions, sportswear, knitwear, underwear, nightware, hosiery, corset wear, menswear, children's clothing, manchester, fabrics, bedding and furnishing"; a description that remained constant over the 24 years of operation.
In 1973, the South Australian-based department store
John Martin's
John Martin & Co. Ltd, colloquially known as John Martin's or simply Johnnies, was an Adelaide-based company which ran a popular chain of department stores in South Australia. It operated for more than 130 years, from 1866 until its closure i ...
acquired an initial 50% shareholding in the company from the original owner, Robert Morris. The investment by John Martins facilitated expansion of the chain into South Australia and Queensland. John Martins eventually moved to 100% ownership.
In 1981, John Martins was taken over by
Solomon Lew
Solomon Lew (born 22 March 1945) is an Australian businessman. His principal commercial activities involve importing apparel, toys and other goods into Australia from China and investments, mainly in retail companies.
As a teenager, Lew suppli ...
, who subsequently sold the company to the Melbourne-based Cookes family, headed by David Cookes. The John Martins department store chain was sold to Sydney-based retailer
David Jones in 1985, with the Cookes family retaining ownership of Venture.
The Cookes family appointed experienced retailer Bob Burke to manage the chain in 1981, and he revitalised the chain, closing unprofitable stores and changing the merchandise focus to budget-priced, quality apparel, aimed mainly at women, teenage girls and children. During Burke's first three years, turnover doubled and profitability increased, aided by a focus on own-branded merchandise which was not subject to competitor comparison.
In February 1987, Venture purchased the
Waltons chain from
Alan Bond
Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s; the biggest corporate co ...
, consisting of 47 Waltons and
Norman Ross
Norman DeMille Ross (May 2, 1895 – June 19, 1953) was an American competition swimmer who won five events at the Inter-Allied Games in June 1919, held at Joinville-Le-Pont near Paris, and three gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwer ...
stores, plus the South Australian-based
J. Miller Anderson & Co. department store business, which closed in 1988. The Waltons stores were converted to Venture outlets, which increased the number of stores to 70 across all states of Australia, except Western Australia.
Demise and closure
In the late 1980s, Venture faced increasing competition from its main competitors
Big W
Big W (stylised as BIG W) is an Australian chain of discount department stores, which was founded in regional New South Wales in 1964. The company is a division of the Woolworths Group and as of 2024 operated 179 stores, with around 18,000 emp ...
,
Kmart Australia
Kmart Australia Limited ( , doing business as Kmart, Kmart Australia, Kmart New Zealand and Kmart Australia and New Zealand and stylised as ''Kmart'') is an Australian chain of retail department stores owned by the Kmart Group division of Wesfar ...
and
Target Australia
Target Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Lindsay's and Lindsay's Target, formerly stylised as Target. and doing business as Target and Target Australia) is a department store chain owned by Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmers. Target stocks ...
, which had larger store networks, bigger stores (and higher average sales per store) and better economies of scale.
The Cookes family announced plans to float Venture in February 1989 to help reduce the high debt levels, but these plans were scrapped in favour of a capital restructure, which included a debt for equity swap.
In 1992, Venture was placed into receivership, and was purchased from the receivers for A$12 million by a joint venture between the New Zealand-based department store chain Farmers Deka (now
Farmers Trading Company
Farmers Trading Company Ltd (branded as Farmers) is a New Zealand mid-market department store chain. Headquartered in Flat Bush, Auckland, Farmers operates 59 stores across New Zealand, specialising in family fashion, beauty, homewares, furnitu ...
) and the
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
based companies Action Holdings and Vox. In December 1992 Farmers Deka acquired 100% of Venture, with ownership passing to Western Australian-based grocery wholesaler and retailer Foodland Associated Limited (FAL), a former Australian company later acquired by
IGA IGA or IgA may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* IGA (supermarkets) (initially Independent Grocers Alliance), a name used by many independent supermarkets throughout the world
** IGA (Australian supermarket group), the local Australian v ...
.
In the 1993 FAL annual report it was written "Venture's management has made significant progress in establishing and repositioning Venture's image as a destination store by merchandising every day repeat purchase items at competitive prices while maintaining its focus on the female with young children as the primary customer base."
However, on 24 February 1994 Venture was placed into administration. The announcement from FAL included the statement "The directors of FAL decided to discontinue support after a comprehensive review over the past 4 weeks. This review process did not satisfy the directors that Venture had a viable future and it was, therefore, in the best interests of FAL shareholders that it be sold or wound up as soon as possible".
Following an 8-week sale process it was announced on 16 April 1994 that Venture had been placed in liquidation due to the failure of negotiations with potential buyers of the business.
[No buyers so Venture placed in liquidation '']The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'' 16 April 1994 The closing down sale commenced on 16 April 1994, with all 45 stores closing on or before 14 May 1994.
Former store locations
The following listing contains all Venture stores that operated during its 24-year history. Not all these locations were open at the time Venture ceased operations in May 1994.
References
{{Reflist
Defunct department stores of Australia
Retail companies established in 1970
Retail companies disestablished in 1994
Australian companies established in 1970
Australian companies disestablished in 1994