Bong retailer Off Ya Tree has been placed in liquidation
Off Ya Tree, which has been selling bongs and alternative products since the late 1970s, has been placed in liquidation, with more than a dozen stores likely to close.
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Off Ya Tree, which has been selling bongs and alternative products since the late 1970s, has been placed in liquidation, with more than a dozen stores likely to close.
The overarching company, Thendro, which just five years ago claimed to turn over $30m a year across more than 20 stores as well as online operations, was placed in liquidation on Thursday.
The company shut its Adelaide store on Wednesday, with staff told just hours before the doors were closed for the last time at the Hindley St outlet.
The company’s website lists 14 other stores across the eastern states and the Northern Territory, including piercing studio Punktured Brisbane and The Bong Shop in Canberra.
Liquidator Con Kokkinos from Worrells declined to comment on Friday.
The company runs the Off Ya Tree-branded stores as well as website, and “The Bong Shop” eCommerce site and retial store in Canberra.
Off Ya Tree has over recent years moved its business model away from bongs, the sale of which is now illegal in all states, towards alternative clothing and piercing.
The stores have been the subject of controversy over the years for the sale of so-called “synthetic cannabis” as well as DIY drug testing kits.
The company was founded by Jim Kouts in 1978 in Melbourne, with a report from 2019 saying he started a stall in Vic Market before branching out into bricks and mortar outlets.
For years retail outlets have sold marijuana smoking devices under the guise of being “water pourers” or in some states labelled them as “for tobacco use only”, however the laws have tightened up in recent years.
The Off Ya Tree website no longer appears to sell any drug-related paraphernalia.
The Off Ya Tree in Byron Bay abruptly closed about three weeks ago and another site in NSW and one in Western Australia have also recently closed.
A former manager of the Adelaide store took to Reddit this week to share that staff members were left in the dark about the closure, after another user noticed the store was listed as “permanently closed” on Google.
“We found out at lunchtime today that the store was closing permanently from 3pm,” the user wrote.
“Three other stores interstate closed today too, making I think six in total so far this year.”
“They’ve told us nothing, and I honestly doubt they will, but the store was losing massive amounts of money because we were just dead.
“The location meant there wasn’t much in the way of foot traffic and there wasn’t a whole lot of marketing so we weren’t reaching new customers and you can’t pay the rent with nostalgia.”
The union representing staff claims the business had not fulfilled all its obligations to former workers.
“Off Ya Tree is in breach of their obligations in the Fair Work Act by failing to consult with workers on the union in relation to these closures,” SDA’s SA/NT secretary Josh Peak said.
“The SDA has written to the company to outline our concerns and requested they immediately clarify the status of workers’ notice period and redundancy pay.
“The way employees were treated when these closures were announced is not good enough.”
Originally published as Bong retailer Off Ya Tree has been placed in liquidation
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