Rod Duke: Briscoe Group managing director on the company's bid to introduce metro stores

Up to 15 metro-style Briscoe and Rebel Sport stores will be popping up across the country - in a bid to pump up Briscoes Group's profitability.

The project will cost more than $100 million dollars - and launch in 2028. 

Briscoe Group managing director Rod Duke says the company is looking to expand their reach to new locations.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now when I say Brisco's, you imagine a big store,
right with rows and rows of towels and pots and pillows. Well,
the company is now adding fifteen mini metro stores to
its lineup to boost sales.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Brisco's first quarter.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Sales were down two point six percent, but its business
is largely held up when much of the retail sector
has really been struggling of late. Brisco Matt Group Managing
Director Rod Duke is with.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Us now, Hay Rod, Hi, how a, you're doing very well.
Thank you know what's the thinking behind these mini stores?

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Well, it's part of our strategic look forward. So what
brought me do to increase outreach through New Zealand given
that the only thing we've got left is relatively smaller catchments,
And so we're on a path to develop a smaller
unit which will address these the smaller catchments.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, like, where are you thinking, Well, there's.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Probably about a dozen locations. I'll give you a couple
of examples. Tower Ager. I've got one store in Toweroger.
It's a pret big catchmant. But I've got one store
downtown which addresses some of the over the bridge catchment.
But there's much larger catchment developing further out towards Bethlehem.
We've got one store. Could we put another two minis
in there? Yeah? I think we probably could. And that's

(01:10):
the sort of thing we're looking at.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
What about city centers, for example Auckland.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, we've got a yea, we've got a downtown rebel
at present, but.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's not a Briscoes and Briscoes is my jam.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, I know, but look we are looking. But at present,
they landlords have got stars of their eyes at the moment.
So look we're looking.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
We're like to god, is it that the landlords are
just charging too much?

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah? Yeah, it's just some of the some of the
sites we have looked at, it's just unprofitable. I just
can't make any money.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Is this is this Auckland Central? Are we talking around?

Speaker 3 (01:50):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
The Queen Street type areas, those kinds of places.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Not necessarily Queen Street, but certainly in the in the
adjacent streets and things we're looking at. We'd like one
in downtown Auckland because look, there's a lot of apartments
down there's a lot of people enjoying city living at present.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
What about Ponsonby Road asking for a friend?

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, I live nearby, that'll be handy for me as well.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
We could meet up there.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, look, we could.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
You have to.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
There's a lot of smaller units there and they're individually
held and so it's it's hard to get you know,
a thousand square meters on the ground adjacent to one another.
But look, we're downtown in Wellington, we're downtown in christ Church.
So we've got downtowns in some of the big centers organized,

(02:39):
but but not all. Look, Hamilton's another one. You know,
we're only on the north side. There's still lots of
housing on the on the east, west and southern side
of Hamilton, but it's just a bit tough to get
the right sized and right appropriate locations.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, I bet now this this distribution sense that you've
got lined up, it sounds like a game changer.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
How big is this thing going to be.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
It's going to be about five or six times bigger
than we've got. It's going to be, as you say,
a game changer for us because we've lived in relatively
modest sized DC center in just Auckland, and so yeah,

(03:22):
we've got the the the problems of when stock comes in,
it's just got to go somewhere quick, so it just
goes into the stores, and quite frank after it's got
too much stock.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
In the stores, and so and and presumably if it's
landing in the stores, then it's not necessarily in the
right store. And some stores are selling out faster than
they need to, truan, so it's just like you'll be
double handling things the whole time.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, you're right. Look, my my interest store transfer is
just to balance the stock up is about nine hundred
thousand dollars a year. Yeah, so that was that will
just fall off completely. Yes, that's I don't worry. Yeah,

(04:03):
the building right.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Listen on the budget, are you is anything that you're
looking looking to in the budget? Anything you want out
of it?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Look, I just like a couple of nice, big items
so I can be convinced that the company is actually
doing something and looking to achieve something. I think that
I think right now they're working on a lot of
fronts and trying to complete a lot of stuff at
one time. So I just look for some guidance from
them that they're they're onto something like what, well, well,

(04:34):
let me get some exclusions, you know, kepal gains tax,
wealth tax, you know, I think that's that's probably not
on their cards anyway. But I'd like to see some
infrastructure spending. You know, I think I notice Australias recently
have gone into toll roads and that sort of thing.
If the government can't afford it, and then look, someone
else can and there'll be a toll on it for
a period.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Did I detect a hint of frustration at the government
in your voice before?

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Ah? Look, I thought, Look, I think I think we
all appreciate that the that the situation they walked into
was pretty ugly and they needed to do something, and
they needed to sit down and think about it and
do something sensible. But it looked like most of us,
it's just about time and elections rolling up not that
far away. It'd be nice to see, nice to see

(05:19):
the government kicking a few goals, and you know, that's
that's I think all of us.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Will say some significant stuff. Rod, it's always wonderful to
talk to you. Thank you so much. Go well.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
I'm looking forward to one of your Briscos popping up nearby.
That's Rod Duke, managing director of the Brisco Group.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
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