There are more retail store closures to come after Rivers’ announcement, says retail analyst Geoff Dart. Photo: Supplied.
There are fears the recent spate of nationwide clothing store closures will have a devastating impact on rural towns, with one expert predicting worse to come.
On Thursday (23 January), Rivers clothing store announced it would shut all 136 of its outlets across Australia by mid-April 2025. This follows the same move by Katies and other labels under the Mosaic Brands parent company, which went into voluntary administration in October 2024.
Rivers will close outlets in Tuggeranong, the Canberra Outlet Centre, Cooma, Batemans Bay, Goulburn, Wollongong, Warrawong, Shellharbour, Nowra, Wagga, Albury and Deniliquin.
Nimmitabel Country Women’s Association president Maryanne Renfrey says there’ll now be almost nowhere to buy affordable clothes in nearby Cooma, where she does her shopping.
“There is no other cheap clothing, other than Salvos and Vinnies. Rivers is probably cheaper than both.
“We have other clothing stores, but they’re expensive. Not everyone can afford $80 for a shirt.”
Ms Renfrey said going to Canberra to shop wasn’t an option for many residents.
“A lot of people don’t have a car. If you want to do a community bus run, it’s $80 to get from Cooma to Canberra. If pensioners spent that on transport, you wouldn’t have anything left for clothing,” she said.
“The conversation around town is ‘where are we getting our clothes now.’”
Veteran retail analyst Geoff Dart says there’s more bad news to come for small towns like Cooma, with declining fertility rates and slow real wage growth reducing demand for retail shopping.
“The world is becoming smaller, brands are becoming stronger. The ones that don’t resonate with consumers are going by the wayside,” he said.
“The only shops that are going to survive are those who have a strong marketing presence and offer value for money, like Kmart.”
He describes current moves by Myer to acquire Apparel Brands (which includes Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E) as a “disaster”.
“Myer is an older person’s brand and young people don’t want to go there. It will result in more closures as the stores that move into Myer,” he said.
Mr Dart believes that many small rural towns will be left with few physical clothing stores, and residents will have to “think outside the square” to address this trend.
“I’d be looking at residents setting up a store for recycled clothing,” he said.
“In Cooma, you’d also look at getting a group together and hiring a minibus to Canberra and sharing the costs for a shopping day.
“There’s also online shopping that you use.”
Ms Renfrey doesn’t believe buying products on the internet is the answer.
“A lot of older residents are not computer literate. They’ll never be able to do it,” she said.
“I don’t like shopping online. Clothing bought online never fits.
“We see the government is bailing out Rex Airlines, which is great because we need them. But why can’t they also invest money in small towns losing shops and services?”
Mr Dart says retail closures are not as big a concern for larger cities like Canberra.
“Australia is a country of shops; we have more shops per head than any other country in the OECD. It’s not a surprise that so many are closing as our fertility rate declines,” he said.
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