Begg Continues To Prune Activities

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32386, 27 August 1970, Page 18

Begg Continues To Prune Activities

The pruning of the South Island activities of Charles Begg and Company, Ltd, is continuing, with the sale of the Dunedin building, and the curtailing of trading in Dunedin and Invercargill.

The company will sell its Dunedin building in Princess Street and lease back the ground floor shop area. With a change in the company’s merchandising policy in Dunedin it now no longer requires the upstairs area, which had been used as a piano showroom. The managing director (Mr C. A. Pearson) said that the Dunedin shop had been ex- . amined, and to maximise return on investment was now being changed to a size and type most suited for local conditions. This involved specialising in music and sound products, and transferring white appliances to North Island branches where demand was high and supplies short This week the white appliances were removed from the Dunedin shop, and pianos which had previously been displayed in the upstairs showroom, were transferred to the ground floor shop. The Dunedin shop employs a staff of about 20, apart : from those employed by the company’s head office. i

The company will drop re--1 cords, sheet music and appli--1 ances from its stocks in Invercargill. The Dee Street building is up for sale, but the company plans to retain a small part of it for future operations. Mr Pearson, acknowledging the group’s heavy losses in the last two years, denied from Auckland the cut was a last-ditch attempt, and said it was a “normal part of chain store retailing.” “Routine Move” He said the cuts were only being made in towns where the shop size was uneconomic. “It is just a normal, routine move,” he said. There had been no discussion about selling the Inver, cargill business, and the move had not been considered. “There has been absolutely no consideration of that at this stage,” Mr Pearson said. “We believe Invercargill needs and requires a shop of 1

■ our type, and we believe it ■ can also be profitable. This ’ is not a last-ditch effort—not at all." Mr Pearson also discounted rumours that a record manufacturing company had refused to supply Beggs. “No, that’s not so as far as I hear it I know of no reason why that would happen,” he said. - , Staff laid off because of the cut had been re-employed by other Arms, he said. “The staff is being handled by our south zone manager, and I understand any surplus staff have been re-employed. “I would emphasise that it’s a routine job for retail chains to expand and shrink. This is common to all chains, whether they are Charles Begg or not” Mr Pearson said. The acting branch manager in Invercargill (Mr C. R. Buchanan) thought the rumours about the company selling out had originated from the sale of branches in Oamaru, Timaru, and Riccarton, Christchurch.