Country Road Group
Country Road is an upmarket Australian fashion/apparel retailer, with 57 stores located around the country as well as in New Zealand and Singapore. With a history of expansion and contraction, the business is now owned by Woolworths Holdings Limited of South Africa. The company relaunched in July 2004; the current Head Designer for Country Road is Sophie Holt (previously chief designer for Witchery).
The company designs and produces men's, women's & children's clothing; footwear & accessories; homewares; and furniture. Its head office is located in Richmond, Victoria (Australia), while the Australian flagship store is located in South Yarra, Victoria. The Northern District head office is located above the flagship store of New South Wales, in Pitt Street Mall, one of Australia's busiest shopping malls.
Beginning 2003, Country Road entered into an exclusive agreement with Myer 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 selected Myer and David Jones stores.
Country Road has a customer loyalty scheme, which enables members to receive special offers and early invitations to sales. The customer receives a card which when shown at the point of sale in Country Road stores (but not department stores), the sale is recorded. Country Road uses this information to send to customers the appropriate promotional information. The card sales history cannot be used in place of a receipt when issuing a refund or an exchange.
There were also stores in Boston and other cities in the United States, as recent as 2000 or later, which closed due to poor sales.[citation needed]
References
- Solly Lew asks Country Road if it's fair dinkum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 2004.
- Getting back on track, Sunday Herald Sun, 20 January 2007.
- Myer Grace Bros and Country Road strengthen ties, retrieved May 12, 2007.
External links