The Reject Shop Limited () is an Australian discount

variety store A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It u ...

chain selling a range of goods such as food, snacks, gift cards and party, health and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, storage, kitchenware, homewares and seasonal items in 356 store locations across Australia. Founded in 1979, The Reject Shop employs over 5,000 staff. The group replaced a number of

Chickenfeed Poultry feed is food for farm poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese and other domestic birds. Before the twentieth century, poultry were mostly kept on general farms, and foraged for much of their feed, eating insects, grain spilled by cattl ...

stores in

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, and took up the space that was left when

Retail Adventures 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 brand ...

closed down.

History

The first store opened in South Yarra, Victoria in 1981. This shop sold '

seconds The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

' and discontinued lines, hence The Reject Shop name. Since 1994, the chain was previously majority owned by

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...

, but was floated on the Australian stock exchange in June 2004 when Macquarie decided to offload its shares. The float was successful, with the company tripling in size two years after going public. Former chief executive Barry Saunders, recruited to the company in 2000 by Macquarie Bank, retired in 2007. He was replaced in May 2007 by Gerry Masters, a former

Coles Group Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of l ...

executive, after 33 years with his former employer. On 11 September 2009, it was announced that Gerry Masters had resigned his position as managing director and would be replaced by Chris Bryce, the chief financial officer, effective 14 September 2009. Despite the strong growth experienced by the company in the years following 2004, a

profit warning A profit warning is a warning declaration issued by a listed company to investors through a stock exchange. It warns investors that the profit of the company in the coming quarter will significantly decline when compared with that of the same quart ...

in December 2010 resulted in a sharp drop in the share price. The company was also affected by the Queensland Floods of 2010, with the company's Ipswich Distribution Centre being flooded. The warehouse became operational once again on 28 August 2011. A similar profit warning in June 2014 resulted in another share drop of 50%, making them one of the top worst performing shares in 2014. In 2013, the company commenced an aggressive growth plan, following the closure of a number of Retail Adventures stores. The company passed the 300 store milestone in October 2013. On 8 July 2014, The Reject Shop announced the appointment of Ross Sudano (formerly of

Little World Beverages Little World Beverages Pty Ltd (LWB) is an Australian beverage and hospitality company, best known for its ownership of the Little Creatures brewery. Although often associated with the independent craft brewery movement in Australia, Little Worl ...

) as chief executive officer. His appointment follows the departure of Chris Bryce in June 2014, after leading a significant growth phase of the business. In December 2019, the company announced Andre Reich as chief executive officer, effective from 13 January 2020. For the financial year ending 30 June 2020, The Reject Shop posted increased sales of over AUD$820m. On 2 September 2020 the company in Australia announced a partnership with British supermarket chain

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

. In October they launched a lowest price guarantee In November 2020, The Reject Shop launched a partnership with

DoorDash DoorDash, Inc. is an American company that operates an online food ordering and food delivery platform. The company is based in San Francisco, California. It went public in December 2020 on NYSE and trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% m ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reject Shop 1979 establishments in Australia Companies based in Melbourne Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Discount stores of Australia Retail companies established in 1979 Retail companies of Australia Variety stores Shops in Australia

History

See also

References

External links