Last store standing: Busselton locals will have to shop at Bunbury’s Target store from mid 2021. Photo: Primewest
South West shoppers will be left with only one Target store after the retail chain announced which locations would be axed.
The Busselton, Margaret River and Manjimup stores will all close by the middle of next year, leaving the Bunbury store as the only one within the region.
Elsewhere in the state, stores in Geraldton, Northam and Esperance will be rebrand to Kmart. The stores in Katanning, Narrogin, Merredin, Karratha and Kununurra will shut completely.
The move to shut half of Target’s locations nationally will leave only four stores remaining in regional WA: Albany, Bunbury, Broome and Kalgoorlie.
Kmart Group Managing Director Ian Bailey said the closures were necessary to create an economically viable Target.
”The disruptive and competitive nature of the retail sector requires us to make some difficult decisions,” Mr Bailey said.
The changes are expected to cost parent company Wesfarmers up to $650 million, with nearly three quarters of that due to asset write-offs and the reduced value of the Target brand. It is not the first time that the brand has closed stores in the South West, with Collie’s Target Country store closing in October 2018.
