Retail

More Perth eateries are set to shut their doors in response to a weakened retail environment, particularly in shopping centres, while blinds retailer Kresta has announced it will close all of its showrooms across the country.

Online travel agency Webjet will raise $275 million and retailer Kathmandu Holdings will raise $201 million, to deal with the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses.

Woolworths is creating 20,000 new jobs to meet a surge in demand but the list of companies shutting stores and standing down staff continues to grow.

Just Jeans, Peter Alexander and Smiggle are among several Australian brands set to close their doors tonight due to the COVID-19 crisis, while commercial landlord Dexus has withdrawn its earnings guidance for 2020.

Retailer Michael Hill International will close all 14 stores in Western Australia as part of its move to suspend operations nationwide, and in New Zealand and Canada, amidst growing COVID-19 concerns.

Wesfarmers has disclosed that nearly every part of its business has been affected by COVID-19, with Bunnings and Officeworks doing better while Target is suffering.

After going into liquidation in February, Kosmic Sound has been saved by South Australian business Dale Cleves Music Group, shortly after another iconic WA brand Jeanswest was also rescued.

Retail spending stayed weak in January as bushfires devastated many parts of Australia, but the coronavirus outbreak is likely to make a bigger impact.

Incumbent 40under40 First Amongst Equals, Hannah Mann, says the award a year ago provided much-needed validation for her pharmacy business model.

Creditors have opted to liquidate Perth Fashion Festival today, just days after festival director Tony Sage failed to sell down his Perth Glory soccer club stake; while the administrators had been unable to recover a debt owed to the company by industry body the Fashion Council WA.

Fashion accessory chain Colette by Colette Hayman will close five of its stores in Western Australia, including both stores in the CBD, after the struggling retailer was placed into voluntary administration earlier this month.

Wesfarmers has sold $1.1 billion of Coles shares, reducing its holdings of the supermarket chain to 10 per cent, while revealing $24 million of payroll problems during its half-yearly results released today.

Attorney-General Christian Porter has sent a warning to corporate Australia after Coles became the latest major company embroiled in an underpayment scandal.

JB Hi-Fi's Christmas has proven music to investors' ears, with strong summer sales and online growth helping the electronics retailer shake sector-wide softness and post a record first-half profit.

National retail spending fell by a worse-than-expected 0.5 per cent in a fire-affected December, however, retail giant Coles recorded a surprisingly strong Christmas period.

Outdoor sports retailer Mainpeak has gone into administration after the local brand suffered continued financial losses.

There are concerns the share market’s strength doesn’t accurately reflect the nation’s economic performance, or outlook.

Fashion accessory retailer Colette by Colette Hayman, which has 15 stores in Western Australia and 126 across the country, has been placed into voluntary administration.

What Christmas gave to Australian retailers, the bushfires are taking away, but there could be worse to come for shopkeepers and shopping centre owners when the latest international trends wash up here.

Curious Planet, formerly known as Australian Geographic, will close all 63 of its stores in Australia over the next eight weeks after the owner's administrators were unable to find a suitable buyer for the struggling retailer.

November's Black Friday sales fueled a better-than-expected monthly retail turnover, but economists are wary of how much of the 0.9 per cent increase would previously have been spent during December.

There’s a sense of optimism in Fremantle amid a flurry of new venue openings, supported by a potential investment pipeline of nearly $1 billion.

Cottesloe’s Napoleon Street is the best performing retail strip in Perth, according to new research by Ray White, with vacancy dropping from 6.9 per cent to zero in two years to September 2019, while Subiaco, Leederville and Mt Lawley have had big increases.

The entity which ran the Perth Fashion Festival for 20 years, before operations were passed to the Fashion Council WA, has entered administration owing $819,000, with owners Mariella Harvey-Hanrahan and Tony Sage planning a deed of company arrangement.

Profit has more than tripled at one of Western Australia’s most prominent family businesses, which controls the Spudshed chain of retail stores.

Shoe retailer Betts Group has returned to profitability after cutting nearly 130 stores in the past two years, and chief executive Danny Breckler is confident the business is now on the right path.

Thomas Building has secured works at the $17 million Tambrey Shopping Centre - the first major retail development in Karratha in two decades - and been contracted to build the $6 million Kalgoorlie Renal Hostel.

The owner of Rebel Sport and Supercheap Auto says like-for-like sales have increased 3.2 per cent so far this financial year, but promotions to attract cautious consumers have hit margins.

Wangara-based manufacturer of lights and fixtures, Unios Lighting, has been picked as the Telstra Western Australian business of the year, after growing from one person to 50 staff in six years.

The Perth restaurateur behind The Meatball Bar and MOP Donuts has been found guilty of assault but acquitted over claims he threatened to destroy a man's cafe and put him "in a coffin" over some fruit and vegetables.

Coventry Village in Morley has joined the list of Perth shopping centres to go solar, with the installation of a new 1.3-megawatt solar power system.

Less than a week after Bunnings admitted to underpaying workers due to payroll error, a second Wesfarmers division has said it discovered a payroll mistake, which has left around 6,000 workers underpaid to a total of $15 million.