Shiploads Sandy Bay: Why popular discounter is shutting down
An impending redevelopment has spelled the end for a Hobart retail icon. However, in a twist, the site owners have been revealed to be from the same family as Shiploads’ company secretary.
Tasmania
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A beloved Tasmanian discount warehouse has been forced to close one of its 13 locations statewide after the site owner declared its intention to redevelopment.
However, in a surprise twist, the site’s owner has been revealed to be members of Hobart’s famous Sypkes family, whose scion Andrew Sypkes is the secretary of the company which owns Shiploads, the Sandy Bay outlet of which is being forced to close.
A notice pinned to the door of Shiploads Sandy Bay, located at 259 Sandy Bay Rd, announced the store’s last day of trade would be on Christmas Eve.
“Sadly, after 10 years, Shiploads Sandy Bay will be closing down,” the notice said.
“Our lease is about to end and the owners of the property intend to redevelop the site.”
The notice said all staff would be relocated to other Greater Hobart stores and that the brand was “stronger than ever”.
“We thank you for your custom over the last 10 years and we look forward to seeing you at another Shiploads store.” Remaining Greater Hobart Shiploads stores include Cambridge, Bridgewater, Glenorchy and Kingston.
When contacted by the Mercury, a staff member said customers had expressed sadness at the store’s impending closure. She said stock would be transferred to other stores. She referred additional questions to head office. Shiploads director Ashley Wilson, of Sandy Bay, did not return the Mercury’s call.
An investigation by the Mercury has revealed the $5.3m site is owned by Elizabeth Sypkes – a retired GP formerly of Barrack Street Practice (which subsequently became Ochre Medical Centre Hobart) and Yvonne Sypkes, Andrew’s aunt and the wife Peter Sypkes, appointed honorary consul of the Netherlands to Tasmania in 2012.
The Sypkes Family Office declined to respond to questions posed by the Mercury.
Shiploads was founded in 2010 by Mr Wilson, Kingston’s Scott Cane, and Andrew Sypkes. The Sandy Bay store opened in late-2013.
Sypkes is a famous name in Tasmania’s retail scene.
According to its Sypkes Family Office website, “The Sypkes family have been building and investing in businesses and properties for more than 60 years – starting with the iconic Purity Supermarket and Chickenfeed Bargain Store retail chains, which were sold to ASX-listed companies in the early 1980s and 2000s, respectively.”
The 259 Sandy Bay Rd site was in fact formerly a Chickenfeed discount store, before becoming Shiploads after Chickenfeed’s parent company, Australian Discount Retail Group, entered receivership in 2009.
Nine Newspapers reported at the time that “Chickenfeed, the profitable 29-store Tasmania-based business... was not in receivership or administration.”
Most Chickenfeed stores in Tasmania were closed in late-2012 after the new owner of the brand, Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron’s Retail Adventures Pty Ltd, placed her company into voluntary administration.
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