Townsville’s Rivers Mega Store offers big discounts ahead of its mid-April closure
The collapse of a massive retail group has claimed another casualty with its Townsville ‘mega store’ slashing prices in a closing down sale. See where.
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The collapse of the massive retail group Mosaic Brands has claimed another Townsville casualty, with the Rivers Mega Store launching a discounting frenzy ahead of its closure by mid-April.
With over 700 stores and 2700 employees across Australia and New Zealand, Mosaic Brands – owner of brands Millers, Rivers, Katies, Noni B and Autograph – revealed last October that it had gone into voluntary administration, with the 45-year-old brand owing creditors $249 million.
In a statement released on Thursday, it was confirmed that despite the best efforts of receivers KPMG, voluntary administrators FTI Consulting and the Mosaic Brands Group team, the sale of Rivers business had not been achieved.
“As a consequence, all remaining Rivers stores will close by mid-April 2025,” KPMG said.
“The receivers are continuing to work on a transaction for the remaining brands in the Mosaic portfolio, including Millers and Noni B.”
The closure of the Rivers brand will impact 136 Rivers stores and approximately 650 employees.
Townsville’s disappointed Rivers Mega Store manager confirmed the sad news about the closure, saying that it would impact six staff, including herself.
In recent weeks, the store had ramped up its product discounting efforts, with one witness saying that a whole store discount of 50 per cent was being advertised, while the Rivers’ website was offering 50-80 per cent off.
On its social media over the past fortnight, Rivers’ Townsville slashed its prices with a massive $5 sale, a 70 per cent off sale for women’s jeans, pants, shorts and skirts, $8 for all clearance items, 70 per off all footwear, and $5 for all socks and underwear.
On Thursday, Rivers also began offering “bonza bargains”, where customers could “take a further 20 per cent off storewide”.
Mosaic Brands closed 288 stores during the Covid pandemic but thanks to a strong return to in-store shopping, it was emboldened to open a Rivers Mega Store in Woodman Ct, West End, in mid-2023.
KPMG executive David Hardy said the receivers made the difficult decision to wind down this iconic Australian brand after failing to find a buyer.
“The receivers would like to thank the Mosaic and Rivers employees who have all worked tirelessly during this difficult period, as well as Rivers’ loyal customer base who have continued to support the brands,” Mr Hardy said.
“The timing of individual store closures will vary and be largely dependent
on stock levels and sell through.
“Sale events and promotions will be run in all stores and the receivers encourage customers to visit their local store or the e-commerce site while stocks last.”
For more information, visit: www.rivers.com.au.
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Originally published as Townsville’s Rivers Mega Store offers big discounts ahead of its mid-April closure
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