How the Kimberley Country Department Store went from humble beginnings to award-winning success in just seven years.
Kimberley Country Department Store has become a household name providing essential clothing, workwear, boots and accessories to people living in regional and remote areas of WA.
The family-owned retail business took out two awards in the 2022 RISE Business Awards, recognised for its achievements in resourcefulness, imagination, sustainability and excellence as a WA business.
“The Towne family are very proud to say that KCDS is one of the largest suppliers of Western apparel and workwear in northern WA and offer a great delivery service throughout the region,” owner Sally Towne said.
The story of KCDS has roots that lie in humble beginnings, with a small store called Grungaja Shop in Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley.
Sally and her husband Chris purchased the business in 2016 after a conversation Sally had while sitting on her horse at a Daly Waters camp draft in early 2015.
Back then, sales were done manually using a calculator, there was no social media or website, and they relied on local foot traffic, while Sally and one other were the only two staff members.
The Townes along with their four children made the move from Helen Springs in the Northern Territory to Fitzroy Crossing in early 2017, with Chris managing a cattle station while Sally managed the shop.
The husband-and-wife team took out a loan to invest in a large shed they gutted and renovated and purchased $220,000 worth of stock.
The early days presented many challenges with the business operating at a loss from 2016 to 2018, and Sally was diagnosed with breast cancer 18 months after purchasing the store.
They appointed a manager to run the shop while Sally underwent cancer treatment in Brisbane for six months in 2017, and their two oldest children went to boarding school.
In 2018, after recovering from surgery, Sally tried to give the business a boost by purchasing a purpose-built truck they transformed into a mobile shop.
Sally drove the rig all over the Kimberley to various camp drafts and events, expanding the reach and visibility of the brand to surrounding local communities.
“The sacrifice required to achieve this meant long periods of time alone on the road, away from family. Weeks and often months at a time were spent travelling across North West Australia to various events, including rodeos, camp drafts, and visiting remote towns and isolated communities,” Sally said.
Sales began to climb but issues cropped up including not being able to find staff to operate the mobile shop, vehicle breakdowns and repairs, stock management, weak internet connections to process non-cash sales, and dealing with the heat and vast distances.
Rather than selling the business, Sally turned to the online world to make country clothing and accessories available all over Australia.
This was a turning point which grew the brand and the stores relocated to larger shops, both in Fitzroy Crossing and South Hedland.
In 2019, revenue increased more than 600 per cent from $150,000 and exceeded $1 million. During COVID, in 2020, the store recorded a 60 per cent increase in total revenue, of which more than 2.5 per cent was generated online.
After opening an additional store in Port Hedland at the end of 2020, and a further location in Derby in October 2021, sales again increased another 40 per cent to over $2.5 million in 2021. By this time, online sales represented almost 5.5 per cent of total revenue.
“The website has been a pivotal replacement of the truck and trailer mobile shop we drove endlessly across the country,” Sally said.
“The footprint of our online store continues to expand rapidly and we are expecting more than 6 per cent of total revenue to be driven through our website.”
The owners have an innate understanding of the challenges and isolation that comes with living in a remote location, and realised early on that one fixed location would not sustain the vision to service customers across remote communities.
“We have spent years living and working in the bush, we have worn the brands and we have a great understanding of the industry and the needs of the people that live out here,” Sally said.
“We’ve been known to put orders on helicopters, mail planes and road trains and will do our absolute best to get orders out the quickest way possible.”
Kimberley Country is projecting another year of revenue growth, targeting $3.2 million, has since released its own line of country clothing and accessories, and has plans to expand into new markets overseas.
“Taking Kimberley Country into people’s homes online has enabled to us to continue to grow nationally and internationally as a recognised Australian brand in the agricultural community,” Sally said.
“While never expecting to reach the point we are at now, we have always been intuitive and instinctive around capitalising on opportunities as they’ve arisen.”
While the business has expanded, Kimberley Country has focused on serving local people of regional and remote communities across Australia.
The business has provided over $20,000 in cash sponsorships and more than $12,000 to products, and signed a memorandum with the Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health (FISH) to help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty for Aboriginal people through training and employment.
“My vision was always to create business that would benefit and support the regions and communities of North West WA,” Sally said.
Visit www.kimberleycountry.com.au or call 08 9191 2000 (Derby) or 08 9172 3868 (South Hedland) to place an order.
