The defunct Australian Apple reseller group, Buzzle, which fell into receivership earlier this month, has closed six of its stores, according to an AustralianIT.com report. Last week it appeared that buyers would be sought for all the stores. That, obviously, is no longer the case.
A Buzzle spokeswoman confirmed that the stores in Heidelberg and La Trobe in Victoria, Chermside in Brisbane, and McMahons Point, Burwood and Capital Square in Sydney were closed by order of the receivers, KPMG, reporter Caitlin Fitzsimmons wrote. The spokeswoman said the group’s remaining 19 stores would stay open and KPMG is reportedly looking for a buyer to run the chain.
The Buzzle consortium, which together owned 24 of Apple’s 68 Apple Center stores and accounted for more than 35 per cent of Apple’s revenue in Australia was formed in July last year. Members hoped to improve margins with better buying power, and gain better reach from single-brand advertising.
Last week, Scott Kershaw, receiver at KPMG, told the Sydney Morning Herald that he expected to sell the Buzzle stores as going concerns. Now there are six less of those “concerns.”
“We’re seeking buyers for the group as a whole, or for individual stores,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We’ve had expressions of interest from Buzzle directors, from managers of stores, and from some outside of Buzzle.”
The deadline for bids is April 20.