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Joe Aston

Harvey Norman's latest boondoggle: a Bundaberg farmers market!

Back to the extraneous, minority shareholder-funded adventures of retail billionaire Gerry Harvey. Having racked up total losses of $107 million (and still rising) of Harvey Norman's money on a fateful dairy cow operation in Coomboona, Victoria, we now take you 1730 kilometres north to idyllic Bundaberg, where another of Gerry's brain farts is changing the way North Queenslanders shop for their potpourri and tea cosies. Welcome to Lana's Farmers Market, occupying modified shipping containers plonked on an empty sealed lot adjacent to Harvey Norman's local warehouse. Book me a one-way ticket!

The serene Stancer Court block was purchased in May 2010 by two companies – Ewing Transport Pty Ltd and Calardu Bundaberg Pty Ltd – for $572,000. Ewing Transport is the company of local businessman Cliff Crampton, while (despite its name) Calardu Bundaberg is registered to Harvey Norman's head office in Sydney. According to documents lodged with ASIC, Ewing Transport borrowed an unknown sum from ANZ that very same month.

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Joe Aston is the founder of Rampart and the best-selling author of The Chairman’s Lounge: The inside story of how Qantas sold us out. From 2012 to 2023, Joe helmed The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column. Email Joe at hello@rampart.news

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/rear-window/harvey-normans-latest-boondoggle-a-bundaberg-farmers-market-20180523-h10fhm