Retravision goes into administration, the latest victim of the retail slump

Voluntary administrators have been appointed to Retravision Southern Limited, which acts as the buying and marketing licensor for 104 privately-owned Retravision stores in Victoria, southern New South Wales and Tasmania.

Bryan Webster and Leanne Chesser of KordaMentha were appointed today as administrators and all Retravision stores will continue to operate.

The administrators have not been appointed to the independent Retravision stores which continue to operate and the administration does not apply to Retravision Western and Retravision Northern which operate in other states and northern NSW.

“The company’s ability to operate as a going concern had been impacted by the industry-wide decrease in consumer discretionary spending being experienced by retailers,” Webster said in a statement issued today.

Webster said Retravision customers should liaise with retail stores about orders and lay-bys; gift cards will be honoured and manufacturers’ warranties should not be affected.

Korda Mentha will be writing to all creditors to provide notice of the date and location of the first meeting of creditors. The first meeting of creditors will be held within eight business days.

The collapse spells the end of a five-year plan to merge Australia’s three Retravision licences.

The plan to unify the northern, western and southern operations through a national shared services structure has been put on hold after Retravision Southern stopped paying some suppliers.

Store owners held emergency meetings on Friday to discuss the financial problems facing the electrical goods retailer.

SmartCompany contacted Retravision for comment but the retailer did not respond prior to publication.