Bing Lee is an
Australian retailing
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
company, a chain of
superstores specialising in
consumer electronics, computer and telecommunication goods. Bing Lee is the largest privately held electrical retail business in
New South Wales with 41 stores (13 franchised) and a turnover of about $490 million.
History
The business began when Bing Lee (Chinese: 李冰,
Pinyin: lǐ bīng) purchased an electrical repair business in
Fairfield, New South Wales
Fairfield is a Greater Western Sydney, western suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Being in the centre of the Cumberland Plain, Fairfield is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrati ...
, in 1957. Lee, along with his son Ken Lee & Cedric Lee (Chinese: 李光裕, Pinyin: lǐ guāng yù), transformed the repair business into an electrical product retail and repair/installation business named Bing Lee Electronics (Chinese: 并力电器,
Pinyin: bìng lì diàn qì). Initial growth came from the surge in demand for televisions, as well as a host of other household items like washing machines, cooking equipment, heaters and audio equipment. Bing Lee was a member of Retravision NSW for a number of years before leaving and joining the Narta Group. Bing Lee opened new stores in other
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
suburbs and across
New South Wales.
Founder Bing Lee died in 1987 (aged 79) and Ken Lee was appointed Chairman. Ken Lee died on 21 December 2007 of cancer (aged 75). His eldest son Lionel Lee took over as chief executive of the company.
Today, 16 of the 40 Bing Lee retail outlets are run by franchisees after franchising was introduced within the business in the early 2000s. Bing Lee has also held the management rights to the "Sony Centre" concept in NSW and the ACT, later closing those stores.
Sponsorships
Bing Lee sponsors
Sydney FC
Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...
, and the
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...
, and had sponsored the
Canterbury Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...
(until allegations of player involvement in sexual assaults
).
They also sponsored
Seven Network's ''
The Amazing Race Australia''.
References
External links
* {{official, https://www.binglee.com.au/
Consumer electronics retailers of Australia
Retail companies established in 1957
Companies based in Sydney
Australian companies established in 1957