The Warehouse today announced it would be "reshaped" around its three core brands, with new leadership. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The Warehouse Group has had a rough six months with its third quarter profits down on the year earlier, the abrupt departure of its chief executive and the sale of its sporting good chain Torpedo7 for $1.
On Tuesday, the group's interim chief executive John Journee acknowledged that announcing that the business would be "reshaped" around its three core brands, The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming.
The group's management had also been shaken up with new appointments which Journee said would be "laser focused" on what need to be delivered.
So how did New Zealand's largest retail group get to that point?
Here's a timeline of key events which have affected The Warehouse in 2024.
- 18 June 2024 - The Warehouse Group interim chief executive John Journee announces the business is to be reshaped around its three core brands, along with new leadership.
- 17 May 2024 The Warehouse Group announces that its chief executive Nick Grayston will be stepping down immediately. In a statement Warehouse chairperson Joan Withers said "we have agreed a change in direction is necessary for the company and that it needs fresh energy to execute".
- 10 May 2024 The Warehouse Group said group sales fell 9.2 percent in the 13 weeks ending April to $695.5 million over the year earlier and down 6.2 percent on the nine-month period. It was also announced that the group was yet to find a buyer for its online store TheMarket.com and that it would close the business by the end of June.
- 20 March 2024, The Warehouse reports a first half net loss of $23.7 million (which included a $55.5m loss from Torpedo7 as well as non-cash impairment from its sale). Sales across the group's stores were down 5 percent and its chief executive describing the result as "sobering".
- 22 February 2024 The Warehouse group sells its struggling outdoor brand Torpedo7 for $1.
The year did not start well for The Warehouse with a drop in net profit of 67 percent for the 12 months ended July 2023.
Then-chief executive Nick Grayston described it as a "tough year for us and tough year for a lot of our customers".
