Billionaire Brett Blundy has welcomed sacked Smiggle boss as new Lovisa boss
Solomon Lew sacked Smiggle boss John Cheston for ‘serious misconduct’ at work, but fellow billionaire Brett Blundy has welcomed the executive to run his Lovisa chain, calling him ‘talented’ and possessing a ‘wealth of retail experience’.
Billionaire Brett Blundy has welcomed the hiring of sacked Smiggle boss John Cheston as the new chief executive of his jewellery chain Lovisa as a “new era” and celebrated the “talented” executive’s “wealth of retail experience”.
Mr Cheston was recently sacked by fellow billionaire Solomon Lew for workplace misconduct.
In his chairman’s address in the Lovisa annual report, Mr Blundy has crowed about the successful hiring of Mr Cheston, who formerly ran kids stationery store Smiggle owned by Mr Lew but soon after he announced his intention to depart to run Lovisa was sacked unspecified “serious misconduct”.
“A new era – starting 4 June, 2025, the reins will be passed to the talented John Cheston,” Mr Blundy, who is also the company’s major shareholder, said in the Lovisa annual report.
“With a wealth of retail experience and a proven track record of success, John is poised to take Lovisa to even greater heights. Get ready for a new era of operational excellence, growth, innovation, and excitement under his leadership!”
Until Mr Cheston is able to start working at Lovisa – with the veteran retailer on extended 12 months gardening leave – Lovisa will continue to be led by Victor Herrero who is one of the highest paid CEO’s on the ASX with remuneration in 2023 almost topping $30m.
It seems Mr Blundy is not overly concerned about the sacking of Mr Cheston by billionaire retailer Mr Lew – or rather the unspecified allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour hasn’t blocked his hiring – and is eagerly awaiting his arrival at the helm of Lovisa. Mr Cheston has denied any wrongdoing.
In June, Mr Blundy poached Mr Cheston from Mr Lew’s grips, taking away the boss of Mr Lew’s Premier Investments’s high-growth business Smiggle. The appointment came soon after Mr Blundy hired former Premier Investments boss Mark McInnes to head his extensive global retail empire.
But Mr Cheston’s departure from Smiggle was then accelerated when in September Mr Lew sacked the long-serving and highly successful boss over a “serious misconduct” allegation. Smiggle is part of the Just Group, owned by the $5bn Premier Investments group, and its stablemates include Peter Alexander, Portmans, Just Jeans and Dotti.
Last month, Just Group put out a simple statement on Mr Cheston’s sacking and refused to divulge any of the details around the alleged workplace misconduct.
“The Just Group board considers that Mr John Cheston has engaged in serious misconduct and a serious breach of his employment terms, and on that basis his employment has been terminated today,” Premier Investments said in a brief public statement.
Following the dismissal, Mr Cheston hired high-profile workplace and defamation lawyer Rebekah Giles to protect his interests.
The surprise sacking of Mr Cheston after more than a decade running Smiggle came as a surprise to the market, with Mr Lew’s Premier Investments later temporarily shelving its plans to demerge Smiggle from the Lew empire.
In late September at Premier Investments’s full-year results, Mr Lew wouldn’t be drawn on the sacking of Mr Cheston but did make reference to poor management at Smiggle that had seen its 2024 results disappoint investors.
At the earnings press conference, Mr Lew looked to lay the blame for the poor Smiggle results in the lap of Mr Cheston, saying that Smiggle management had “lacked focus” during the year. Pressed to explain what Mr Cheston’s “serious misconduct” was to get him sacked, he declined to comment.
Mr Lew said Mr Blundy had not called him yet to talk about Mr Cheston’s sacking from Premier Investments.
It comes as Premier Investments is considering selling its retail apparel brands – Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Dotti and Jacqui E – to department store owner Myer.
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