Venture (department store)
Appearance
Venture was a chain of discount department stores operating in Australia. It was developed by South Australian department store John Martins and was opened in 1970. The chain grew to cover much of the country. It was sold to the Cookes family which purchased the Waltons chain of department stores in 1987 and promptly closed it down, converting most of the stores to the Venture banner. In 1994, the company went bankrupt due to financial difficulties and soon after, it was closed down. The demise of Venture accelerated the national expansion of Harris Scarfe and the statewide expansion of FitzGeralds in Tasmania (FitzGeralds was merged with Harris Scarfe a year later).
Former store locations
South Australia
- Salisbury (Parabanks) (eventually acquired by Harris Scarfe and became the first suburban Harris Scarfe store. This occurred before the collapse of the Venture chain)
- Elizabeth (this Venture store had two storeys, and was eventually taken over by Harris Scarfe).
- West Lakes
- Woodcroft
- Arndale, now Centro Arndale (Kilkenny)
Tasmania
- Devonport (now Harris Scarfe)
- Eastlands
- Hobart (now Wendy's and Priceline on the upper level)
- Ulverstone (now Harris Scarfe)
- Launceston (now Target)
Australian Capital Territory
- Monaro Mall/Canberra Civic (acquired from Waltons)
- Woden Plaza
- Belconnen Mall
New South Wales
- Albury (acquired from Waltons who had purchased from Burns Philp, had been "Mates" department store)
- Armidale (acquired from Waltons)
- Auburn
- Bankstown
- Baulkham Hills
- Blacktown (acquired from Waltons)
- Bondi Junction (acquired from Waltons)
- Burwood (acquired from Waltons)
- Cabramatta
- Campbelltown
- Caringbah
- Carlingford
- Cessnock
- Chatswood
- Coffs Harbour
- Dee Why (acquired from Waltons, free-standing store over three floors)
- Fairfield
- Gosford (acquired from Waltons, was located in Market Town centre)
- Hornsby (acquired from Waltons)
- Hurstville (acquired from Waltons)
- Kotara (Garden City)
- Liverpool
- Merrylands
- Mount Druitt
- Newcastle - Hunter Street
- Nowra
- Parramatta (acquired from Waltons, part of the Westfield site; over two floors)
- Penrith
- Seven Hills
- Taree
- Top Ryde
- Wollongong (Crown Central)
Victoria
- Kilsyth
- Coburg
- Box Hill
- Forest Hill
- Brandon Park
- Clayton (now Coles Centre Rd)
- Waverley Gardens
- Frankston (acquired from Waltons)
- Keysborough (Parkmore Shopping Centre)
- Dandenong (acquired from Waltons), later occupied by Dimmeys
- Greensborough
- Lalor
- Morwell
- Sale
- Shepparton
- Sunbury
- Ballarat
- Geelong (Market Square)
- Corio Village
- Richmond
- Melton
- Wantirna South (Knox City)
- Vermont South
- Boronia
- Bulleen Plaza
- Mildura (two stories)
- Maribyrnong (Highpoint West Shopping Centre)
- Bendigo
- Chadstone
Queensland
- Brisbane City
- Carindale
- Deception Bay
- Fortitude Valley
- Indooroopilly
- Loganholme (Logan Hyperdome)
- Redbank (Redbank Plaza)
- Rockhampton (Rockhampton Shopping Fair)
- Southport (Gold Coast)
- Toowoomba (Clifford Gardens)
- Upper Mount Gravatt (Garden City)
References
- Former glories, Inside Retailing Magazine, September 2005, archived from the original on 24 August 2006, retrieved 3 January 2014