Staff at Canberra's six Dick Smith stores face an uncertain future after Woolworths announced yesterday it would close up to 100 underperforming shops in Australia and New Zealand.
The retailer plans to sell the electronics chain after a review found sales of consumer electronics would be better delivered through its Big W department stores and online.
As part of an accelerated rationalisation before the sale, the supermarket giant said it would close up to 100 of its 386 shops in Australia and New Zealand over the next two years.
A Woolworths spokeswoman said yesterday the company still had no detail on which stores would be affected, or if ACT stores in Belconnen, Fyshwick, Gungahlin, Woden, Tuggeranong and at the Canberra Centre had been marked for closure.
''We don't have the details of which stores will be affected at this stage, but it's important to note that it will be done over two years,'' the spokeswoman said.
''We're committed to redeploying staff at affected stores.''
In its announcement, Woolworths said affected staff would be offered new roles within the Woolworths group and the company had budgeted $300 million for the restructure.
The retailer said it was already considering a number of unsolicited offers for Dick Smith.
Woolworths' review concluded the investment and management attention given to the electronics chain was disproportionate to its position within the company.
The sale will allow the company to focus on its core supermarket business and price war with rival Coles.
Woolworths chief executive Grant O'Brien said, ''Dick Smith is an iconic speciality consumer electronics brand, with a strong team and its own leading online presence.
''However we believe that separating this speciality model from Woolworths is now the best option for the future of both businesses.''
But entrepreneur Dick Smith fears the electronics chain he founded could become foreign-owned.
The man who founded the business in the late 1960s and who has become a fierce Buy Australian campaigner fears it is inevitable the electronics chain will end up foreign owned.
''That's basically the only place they'll be able to sell [Dick Smith Electronics],'' Mr Smith said.
''I can't see how you can get growth in that industry.
''Everyone will just buy the products from overseas. You don't have to pay cash, GST.
''The labour costs overseas are so much cheaper, I just can't see how you'll be able to get any growth at all.
''Presumably, that's why they're selling it.''
Mr Smith said the sale was a sign Australia was moving closer to the point where everything would be foreign-owned.
The local market was not big enough to provide sustained profits for companies in an increasingly globalised world.
''When you want endless growth, only the biggest survive,'' Mr Smith said.
''Little Australia won't have any ownership at all.''
with AAP
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