Chickenfeed was a chain of discount retail stores in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, founded in 1990 in Tasmania by the prominent Sypkes family. At its height it had roughly 44 stores in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. It was taken over by Australian Discount Retail Group in 2001, and the brand was discontinued after the parent company went into receivership. It currently has no stores remaining in Australia.

History

The company was founded by Rudie and Peter Sypkes in 1990, and continued to expand until it became

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

's only discount retail store chain, and Rudie and Peter Sypkes continued to run Chickenfeed until 2001, when the retail chain was sold to the Australian Discount Retail Group. In 2009 Australian millionaire

Jan Cameron Jan Cameron is a New Zealand-Australian businesswoman and formerly Australia's fourth-richest woman. She made her fortune as the founder of the Kathmandu clothing and outdoor equipment company. She currently lives in Bicheno, Tasmania. She ru ...

purchased the parent company,

Australian Discount Retail DSG Holdings Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Discount Superstores Group was a discount variety retailer in Australia, formed in 2013 following the liquidation of former company Retail Adventures. It owned the Sam's Warehouse and Crazy Clark's bra ...

and ownership changed to Retail Adventures Pty Ltd. Following the change of ownership, it was announced that all

Go-Lo Go-Lo was a chain of Australian discount variety stores with hundreds of stores throughout Australia. It was part of the largest discount retailer group in Australia. It was owned by Jan Cameron's Retail Adventures along with Sam's Warehouse, ...

, Crazy Clark's and Sam's Warehouse stores would be rebranded Chickenfeed over the next five years. Soon after it was announced that nine new Chickenfeed stores were to be opened in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

to test the mainland market. The last of these was opened in August, and nearly 20 stores were eventually opened across the mainland. Store closure began in October 2012 with up to 20 Chickenfeed stores in Tasmania closed or closure was announced without explanation, including a Launceston (Prospect Vale) store which was forcibly reclaimed by security guards of the company which owned the complex it was situated in, after the company did not pay its rent, as well as a similar situation in its store in Centrepoint Shopping Centre,

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

. On 27 October 2012, parent company Retail Adventures was placed in administration. Owner Jan Cameron continued to operate the profitable stores under a licence from the administrators. The Chickenfeed rebranding has ceased, with the Chickenfeed brand to disappear altogether. Any remaining profitable stores after a restructure were rebranded as "Crazy Clark's" or "Sam's Warehouse". During the period of administration, concern had been expressed by company staff that one of the primary reasons behind the changes and eventual closure of stores was due to the high rent imposed on the stores by the landlords, the Sypkes family. The Sypkes family hold a 50% share in the Shiploads discount chain, and a number of Shiploads discount stores have opened in locations that previously held Chickenfeed stores. All stores were closed on May 20, 2013, excluding the Southern Tasmania Clearance Centre which was rebranded to Sam's Warehouse in mid October 2013.

References

{{Reflist Discount stores of Australia Retail companies established in 1990 Australian companies established in 1990 Defunct retail companies of Australia Companies based in Tasmania Retail companies disestablished in 2013 Australian companies disestablished in 2013