Papaya Furniture closes four stores in company restructure, clearance sales underway

An Australian homewares retailer is shutting down “most of its stores” while an unknown number of staff have likely been impacted.

Papaya Furniture has been in business for 30 years, headquartered in Sydney, but announced it was closing four of its five locations.

A clearance sale has been underway throughout the Christmas period, with three stores and one showroom slated for the chopping block early into the new year.

Its stores in Bondi, Birkenhead Point and Richmond will close, along with the current showroom in Camperdown, which also doubles as its head office.

“Everything must go,” a company spokesperson said in a statement provided to news.com.au.

They are opening a new showroom in Mosman.

Aside from that, there is one remaining warehouse in Granville in Sydney’s west that has been unaffected by the restructure.

A clearance sale is underway.

Papaya’s CEO, Robyn Connelly, said the furniture business was restructuring by pivoting to ecommerce in a move that would position the company “for the future”.

“Previously unseen discounts, present an opportunity for legions of Papaya fans (old and new) to purchase beautiful pieces of furniture or homewares for all rooms of the home at a fraction of the normal price,” its press release read.

However, despite news.com.au’s repeated requests for comment, a Papaya representative did not respond to questions about what this “restructure” meant for staff, including whether those employees at the closing down stores will still have jobs.

Papaya Furniture launched 30 years ago.

Papaya launched in 1996 but appears to be joining a growing list of a number of struggling retailers as discretionary spending closes down.

Last year, in March, iconic music and entertainment retailer Sanity shut down its last two remaining brick-and-mortar stores as it switched to a purely online model, coming down from a peak of 200 shops.

Another major player in the furniture retail space, Brosa, collapsed last year owing $24 million, including $10 million to customers from unfulfilled orders.

Fenton & Fenton, a Melbourne-based homewares boutique, entered into liquidation in August last year but was saved a month later by another furniture outfit.

The cost of living crisis has seen a drop in discretionary spending across Australia and all kinds of retailers — from furniture and fashion stores, to the wedding industry, have been hit hard.

SOURCE: NEWS.COM