Country Road is a middle market clothing retailer with operations in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It is a subsidiary of

Woolworths Holdings Limited Woolworths Holdings Limited () is a South African multinational retail company that owns the South African retail chain Woolworths, and Australian retailers David Jones and Country Road Group. Woolworths, however, has no association to Austr ...

. its brands include Country Road, Mimco, Trenery, Politix, and

Witchery Witchery is a Swedish blackened thrash metal band formed by former members of Satanic Slaughter in 1997. The current lineup consists of guitarists Patrik Jensen and Rickard "Rille" Rimfält, bassist Sharlee D'Angelo, vocalist Angus Norder, a ...

History

Country Road store in the Canberra Centre August 2020

Country Road was founded in 1974 by Stephen Bennett, initially as a niche women's shirting label. He took his inspiration for the name from the hit song

Country Roads "Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver about West Virginia. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two ...

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

. It grew rapidly to become Australia's first lifestyle brand. In 1981,

Myer Myer (stylised MYER, sometimes known as Myers) is an Australia, Australian mid-range to upscale department store chain. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of ...

purchased Country Road, before listing it 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 1987. In 1988, it expanded into homewares and the American market. By 1980 it was selling women's apparel and had product in department stores as well as in ten Country Road stores. In 1984, Country Road began producing menswear, then in 1986, it began producing accessories. Its growth during the 1990s extended in both product range and location, operating over 100 stores at its peak.Our History
Country Road Group In 1998,

acquired a controlling interest in the company. It was relaunched in July 2004 as a company that has higher volume sales and lower product prices, with its head office in

Burnley, Victoria Burnley is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Yarra local government area. Burnley recorded a population of 794 at the 2021 census. Bu ...

, and the Australian flagship store at

Chadstone Shopping Centre Chadstone Shopping Centre (colloquially known as Chaddy) is a super regional shopping centre located in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Malvern East. Chadstone Shopping Centre is the biggest shopping centre in Australia and one of the bi ...

. Beginning 2003, Country Road entered into an exclusive agreement with

department stores. Under this agreement, Country Road agreed to sell exclusively to Myer and not to its main rival, David Jones. It also included joint marketing and in-store visual merchandising. This arrangement ended in January 2007 when Country Road became a concession store in David Jones and Myer stores. There were also stores in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and other cities in the United States, as recently as 2000 or later, which closed due to weak sales. In 2012, Country Road purchased Witchery Group, which include

and Mimco. Having built up an 88% shareholding in the company, Woolworths Holdings Limited took full ownership in July 2014 when it purchased

Solomon Lew Solomon Lew (born 22 March 1945) is an Australian businessman. His principal commercial activities involve importing apparel, toys and other goods into Australia from China and investments, mainly in retail companies. As a teenager, Lew suppli ...

's shareholding.

Description

Brands

Country Road operates several brands apart from the Country Road brand: *Mimco *Trenery *Politix *Witchery

References

External links

* {{Authority control Clothing brands of Australia Clothing companies established in 1974 Clothing retailers of Australia Clothing retailers of New Zealand Companies based in Melbourne Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Defunct retail companies of the United States Retail companies established in 1974 1974 establishments in Australia Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies

History

Description

Brands

References

Further reading

External links