Godfreys is an Australian retailer in the domestic and commercial floorcare and cleaning industry, headquartered in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The company was founded by Godfrey Cohen in 1931, and it has since grown to approximately 200 company- and franchise-owned stores combined across Australia and New Zealand.

History

Godfrey Cohen founded the first Godfreys store in 1931 in the

Prahran Market Prahran Market is a food market in South Yarra, Victoria, South Yarra, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Located on Commercial Road near Chapel Street, Melbourne, Chapel Street, it was established in neighb ...

, Melbourne, simultaneously revolutionising the vacuum cleaner business in Australia. It wasn't long before John Johnston came across Godfrey Cohen's business, and the two quickly became business partners over a simple handshake that lasted for over 70 years. Over this period, the business rapidly expanded within Australia as demand from customers increased after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and the product range grew from solely bagged vacuum cleaners to include

steam mop A steam mop is a mop that uses steam to clean floors and carpets. Unlike a regular mop, which requires cleaning agents such as bleach or detergent, a steam mop uses heat from steam to disinfect the floors. A microfibre pad is often placed right u ...

s, carpet shampooers, robotic vacuums, handstick vacuums, wet & dry vacuums, handheld vacuums, hard floor cleaners, garment steamers, backpack vacuums, floor polishers, carpet blowers, bagless vacuums, cleaning consumables and more including a range of anti-allergy,

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

and

pet hair Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

vacuum cleaners recognised by the National Asthma Council Australia as Sensitive Choice approved. Godfrey Cohen died in 2004, and Godfreys was sold to private equity companies

Pacific Equity Partners Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) is a private equity investment firm focusing on transactions in Australia and New Zealand. PEP invests across a range of industries and sectors and in turnaround and growth capital transactions. The firm is based i ...

and CCMP Capital Asia for $350 million in 2006. The company was relisted on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

in 2014 at $2.75 per share, but it was subsequently removed from the ASX in July 2018 after John Johnston, who first joined Godfreys in 1936 as a partner, proposed a private takeover of the company. Johnston died soon after the successful takeover; he was 100 years old. His family company already owned 28% of the shares prior to this takeover.

Company overview

Godfreys consists of a combination of approximately 200 company and

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

stores in Australia and New Zealand. Together with their retail stores, Godfreys operates multiple service and repair centres across the two countries.

Brands

Godfreys currently holds the licence to distribute Hoover-branded vacuum cleaners in Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the Hoover brand, Godfreys also owns the exclusive distribution rights to Wertheim,

Vorwerk Vorwerk may refer to: *Vorwerk, Lower Saxony, a municipality in the Rotenburg district, Lower Saxony *a locality of Altenmedingen, in the Uelzen district, Lower Saxony *a subdivision of Celle, Lower Saxony *a Vorwerk (fortification), an advanced fo ...

floorcare range, Pullman, and Sauber cleaning products. Godfreys also supplies

Nilfisk Nilfisk is a supplier of professional cleaning equipment in both industrial, commercial and consumer markets. The company is headquartered in Brøndby, Denmark, with sales entities in 45 countries and dealers in more than 100 countries. Nilf ...

, Vax,

Miele Miele ( ; ) is a German manufacturer of high-end domestic appliances and commercial equipment, headquartered in Gütersloh, Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The company was founded in 1899 by Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann, and has always been a family-own ...

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool. Electrolux products sell under a variety ...

, Bissell,

Black & Decker Black+Decker Inc. is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products, home appliances and fastening systems headquartered in Towson, Maryland, north of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where the company was o ...

, Numatic and more cleaning machines for the domestic and commercial cleaning market.

Financing partnerships

Godfreys provides customers, both online and in store, with alternative payment options from Humm (since April 2019),

Afterpay Afterpay Limited (abbreviated as Afterpay) is an Australian financial technology company best known for its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service. It operates in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and New Zealand. Afterpay wa ...

and

Openpay Openpay Group, commonly referred to by its trading name Openpay, is an Australian fintech company that operates in the "Buy now, pay later Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a type of short-term financing that allows consumers to make purchases and pay ...

to bring more affordability to customers in the floorcare market.

Advertising

Godfreys has obtained

brand awareness Brand awareness is the extent to which customers are able to recall or recognize a brand under different conditions. Brand awareness is one of two dimensions from brand knowledge, an associative network memory model. Brand awareness is a key consi ...

in Australia and New Zealand through many years of similar

television advertisements A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

featuring John Hardy.

Awards

The company has won the following awards: * Power Retail's Top 100 Online Retailers of 2020, at rank 6

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.godfreys.com.au *

br> Godfreys Group Limited (GFY) stock quote
Retail companies of Australia Australian companies established in 1931 Retail companies established in 1931 Companies based in Melbourne Home appliance manufacturers of Australia Vacuum cleaner manufacturers