Venture (department store)

Venture was a chain of discount department stores that operated in Australia between 1970 and 1994.

Bought by the South Australian department store John Martins (and unrelated to the defunct North American chain of the same name; see Venture Stores), Venture is best remembered as a retailer of medium quality women's and children's clothing as well as soft home wares.

Venture experienced financial difficulties in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was placed in liquidation in April 1994, with all stores closing soon after.

Venture was established by the South Australian-based department store John Martins in 1970, with the initial stores based in South Australia.

During the 1970s the chain expanded into the easten states of Australia, with stores opening in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

In 1981 parent company John Martins was taken over by Solomon Lew and subsequently sold to the Melbourne-based Cooke family, headed by David Cooke. The John Martins business was subsequently sold to Sydney-based retailer David Jones Limited in 1985, with the Cooke family retaining ownership of Venture.

The Cooke family appointed experienced retailer Bob Burke to manage the chain in 1981, who revitalised the chain, closing unprofitable stores and changing the merchandise focus to budget priced, quality apparel aimed mainly at women, teenage girls and children.

During his first 3 years, turnover doubled and profitability increased, aided by a focus on own-branded merchandise which was not subject to competitor comparison.

In February 1987 Venture purchased the Waltons (department store) chain from Alan Bond, consisting of 47 Waltons and Norman Ross stores, plus the South Australian-based J. Miller Anderson & Co. department store business, which closed in 1988.

The Waltons stores were converted to Venture outlets, which increased the number of stores to 70 across all states of Australia except Western Australia.

In the late 1980s Venture faced increasing competition from its main competitors Big W, Kmart Australia and Target Australia, which had larger store networks, bigger stores (and higher average sales per store) and better economies of scale.

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