2 March 2011

DFO wins the war - not quite

| AdamH
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Recent news that Brand Depot is closing is now unfortunately joined by news that the DFO may be placed into liquidation in the Canberra Times), as the owners of the DFO shopping centres face over a billion dollars in debt.

With news of SupaBarn closing as well, are we left with the Westfield shopping centres only?

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harvyk1 said :

Finally, every time I’ve been out there I’ve seen the exact same things, for the exact same prices as the normal stores… Infact the only difference I have seen is some of the stores have the words “factory outlet” plastered underneath the sign.

+1

If Brand Depot and DFO weren’t just paying lip service to the “factory outlet” model I’d go back there. DFO, Harbour Town etc sit on cheaper land away from the town centres because they know people will tolerate it for a good bargain. I would. Without the bargain they’re just poorly located malls.

The problem with both these places is that they are in places which the average canberran needs to make a special effort to head out to…

If you look at the other town centres, all nearby busses either start or finish there (oftan both), and they are nearby to residential area’s…

Brand Depot was in the middle of nowhere. At a minimum it should have been easier to get to from the airport, so that the 30 passangers per year who do a stop over at the airport could visit there whilst waiting for their next flight.

DFO is in an industrial zone, with no houses nearby, even the caravan park is a bit of a walk away…

and in both cases public transport to get cashed up teenagers out there went via one of the other major shopping centers first…

Finally, every time I’ve been out there I’ve seen the exact same things, for the exact same prices as the normal stores… Infact the only difference I have seen is some of the stores have the words “factory outlet” plastered underneath the sign.

Muttsybignuts said :

I was at DFO yesterday ( Saturday) and it was packed. I’ve only been there a couple of times so am not sure if yesterday was usual or otherwise. At any rate there were plenty of people carrying heaps of bags.

Weekends, yes. Call in on a weekday and it is a completely different story. Although the lack of weekday trade probably explains why DFO really doesn’t offer factory outlet prices (read: cheaper than any other shopping mall).

Muttsybignuts10:27 pm 26 Jun 11

I was at DFO yesterday ( Saturday) and it was packed. I’ve only been there a couple of times so am not sure if yesterday was usual or otherwise. At any rate there were plenty of people carrying heaps of bags.

stonedwookie3:45 pm 26 Jun 11

costco arent moving into the supabarn building there building a new store

canberralocal11:35 am 15 Jun 11

Douche said :

Is Jim Murphy staying there, I wonder?
Pretty bad spot for trade, driving out there was almost like doing a day trip-big effort for nothing.

A day-trip to the airport? Which way were you going?

grunge_hippy said :

i wonder if freedom are regretting moving to DFO. they were always super busy at their old fyshwick premises…

I wouldn’t blame the move to DFO solely for their quietness. Around the time they moved they changed their stocking strategy and IMO have gone a little more down market. Would be interesting to compare trade levels at a shop that didn’t move to say for certain.

grunge_hippy9:24 pm 02 Mar 11

i wonder if freedom are regretting moving to DFO. they were always super busy at their old fyshwick premises…

creative_canberran9:09 pm 02 Mar 11

antycbr said :

Not quite, Canberra Centre is owned by the Queensland Investment Corporation.

And Colonial First State recently took the Hyperdome off the hands of Centro and Leda.
Not that any of it actually matters. The companies are all interconnected, with QIC having joint operations with both Westfield and Colonial.
And the boards are so intertwined, it’s a wonder the investments these companies spawn don’t have 6 fingers on each hand.

creative_canberran9:06 pm 02 Mar 11

Erg0 said :

If it did close then we’d pretty much just be back to where we were a couple of years ago. Depending on the financial health of this particular DFO, it may just be sold off rather than closed.

Many stores still empty, many stores closed and some fit out not complete. Plus an absolutely massive flood of floor space from the failed Brand Depot and SupaBarn… a tough sell I’d say.

In other news, anyone noticed that Snow has started a new round of ads on TV in the style of the former Brand Depot ones but focusing on Toys R Us and McDonalds out there? Sounds like Toys R Us will outlive Brand Depot which is interesting. Seems like an odd time though to roll out the marketing.

EvanJames said :

Getting into the place involves going in through one entrance and invariably there’s some idiot doing the carpark vulture thing so all the cars have to sit and wait until they’ve got their precious space. I often park out in the paddock to avoid that.

There is actually 2 ways in. There is an entrance to the carpark from Newcastle st. Avoids joining the queue to get in the front entrance and also allows me to park at the JB Hifi end to be near the exit. Funny…….that end of the carpark is almost always empty. Must the canberra driver thing of always wanting to park at the front door

Gungahlin Al1:43 pm 02 Mar 11

dtc said :

EvanJames said :

I dislike visiting DFO. It’s too big. If you are after one shop you are forced to troop around in this big maze to get to it.

I agree, navigating your way around a rectangle without getting lost can be almost impossible.

LOL!

So Brand Depot, DFO and SupaBarn have discovered the hard way what Ikea and Apple already knew? (that is, Canberra is too small for high volume/low margin retail hubs)

I’ve been quite happily buying things from the local IGA, and putting up with a weekly trip to the Tuggeranong Hyperdome. But that usually ends up being a three hour travail, by which time my patience for muzak has worn terribly thin and I’m likely to lash out at the next person who so much as smiles at me.

EvanJames said :

I dislike visiting DFO. It’s too big. If you are after one shop you are forced to troop around in this big maze to get to it.

I agree, navigating your way around a rectangle without getting lost can be almost impossible.

I really question whether most of the homemakers hub businesses are doing any good at DFO. Quite a few had good Fyshwick street-front showrooms, and I thought their move to DFO was a huge step backwards. If you’re after furniture, you want to drive right up to the shop, not walk for miles in a mall.

I dislike visiting DFO. It’s too big. If you are after one shop you are forced to troop around in this big maze to get to it. Getting into the place involves going in through one entrance and invariably there’s some idiot doing the carpark vulture thing so all the cars have to sit and wait until they’ve got their precious space. I often park out in the paddock to avoid that.

haven’t been to DFO in ages and tend to find ways to avoid it.

If it did close then we’d pretty much just be back to where we were a couple of years ago. Depending on the financial health of this particular DFO, it may just be sold off rather than closed.

Is Jim Murphy staying there, I wonder?
Pretty bad spot for trade, driving out there was almost like doing a day trip-big effort for nothing.

sid said :

futto said :

(slow clap)

I just moved to an area with SupaBarn and was enjoying the diversity of stock compared with Woolies. Damn.

If we are left with just Westfields, Woolies and Coles, wouldn’t they be in the “too big to fail” category. We need better legislation to protect us from these companies failing or abusing the monopolies they have because clearly the laws and regulations we have are not working.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s just the Supabarn at the airport closing isn’t it?

Yeah, just that one, I believe it is closing because Costco is moving in…

futto said :

(slow clap)

I just moved to an area with SupaBarn and was enjoying the diversity of stock compared with Woolies. Damn.

If we are left with just Westfields, Woolies and Coles, wouldn’t they be in the “too big to fail” category. We need better legislation to protect us from these companies failing or abusing the monopolies they have because clearly the laws and regulations we have are not working.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s just the Supabarn at the airport closing isn’t it?

(slow clap)

I just moved to an area with SupaBarn and was enjoying the diversity of stock compared with Woolies. Damn.

If we are left with just Westfields, Woolies and Coles, wouldn’t they be in the “too big to fail” category. We need better legislation to protect us from these companies failing or abusing the monopolies they have because clearly the laws and regulations we have are not working.

Not quite, Canberra Centre is owned by the Queensland Investment Corporation.

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