UP to eight full-time, nine part-time and one casual employee have lost their jobs after The Good Guys closed their South Nowra store at the weekend.
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The Good Guys has been operating a pop-up site in Nowra since July 2016, while searching for a new permanent location to suit its needs.
Its current lease was due to expire later this month with Services NSW establishing a supercentre at the location.
Without an option to extend The Good Guys were forced to close their store at Nowra House and Home Centre in Central Avenue.
The Good Guys chief retail officer Cory Hedin said the company had done everything possible to find a solution that would allow it to continue trading in Nowra.
“Unfortunately, we have been unable to secure an appropriate site to accommodate the store size that the business requires,” he said.
“As a result, team members currently operating the Nowra store have been offered full redundancies and all entitlements for their years of service.
“We are doing everything possible to support these team members during this challenging time.”
He said in the event a suitable site was secured for a Nowra store to re-open, roles would be advertised and previous employees would be given the opportunity to apply.
“The Good Guys remains committed to the Nowra community and is confident that a suitable location will be found, and a store will re-open in Nowra in the future,” he said.
“We are sincerely grateful to our team members for their patience and service through our transitional journey and we hope to see them come back to the business when store operations resume in the Nowra community.”
He said the company was also committed to looking after its customers while the search for a new site continues, offering customers in the Nowra postcodes of 2541, 2534, 2535, 2539, 2540 and 2577 free delivery on all online purchases until August 15, 2017.
Rumours are rife The Good Guys along with a host of other major businesses such as JB Hi-Fi, Amart Furniture, Anaconda and Amart Sports may be looking to relocate into the as yet unopened Masters site on the Princes Highway at South Nowra.
Mr Hedin would not confirm or deny the rumour.
“We are currently looking to secure and develop a new location for our Nowra operations but given the commercial sensitivity of our discussions, we are not in a position to comment further at this stage,” he said.
However, it is understood that any such move would have to wait until later in the year with the court case between Woolworths and American Lowes over the compensation of the failure of the Masters’ contract not expected to be held until around November.
It is believed once that is settled moves could be made to split the large building into smaller retail areas providing a variety of retail opportunities.