A failed Australian furniture retailer has been saved at the last minute in a white knight rescue that will see customer orders honoured.
Last month, news.com.au reported that Fenton & Fenton, a Melbourne-based homewares boutique, had entered into liquidation.
News of its collapse sparked concern from customers who were worried they wouldn’t receive the furniture they had already paid thousands of dollars for.
But on Friday morning, another major furniture seller has announced that they are taking over the business.
The owner of another Melbourne-based homewares brand, Berkowitz Furniture, Peter Berkowitz, said that his family group will acquire Fenton & Fenton.
The business will continue to operate, with Berkowitz Furniture acting as the parent company.
The Berkowitz family said they were “committed to supporting current Fenton & Fenton customers” and that they would do so by fulfilling orders “where possible” and honouring gift cards “with some conditions”.
“I’m shocked! Awaiting my order … not sure I’ll see it now,” one customer posted on social media when Fenton & Fenton first went into liquidation, while another asked “Just wondering if you will be honouring outstanding credit notes now that you have gone into liquidation?”
Anyone with an order can contact hello@fentonandfenton.com.au for more information.
Lucy Fenton, the eponymous founder of Fenton & Fenton, is being kept on at the new furniture business in a creative director role “to maintain brand integrity”.
However, a Berkowitz Furniture spokesperson would not confirm if other staff would be retained.
“The Berkowitz team will be establishing a team to run Fenton & Fenton,” they told news.com.au.
“There are positions that may be filled by former Fenton & Fenton staff, but no decisions have been made at this stage.”
They also would not confirm if they had absorbed all the debts of the failed retailer, and said this was a matter for the liquidators at EY to comment on further.
“We are delighted to be able to continue the Fenton & Fenton story, given how much support this interior design icon has in Melbourne, and across the country,” Peter Berkowitz said in a statement.
“We bring five generations of experience to this new partnership, along with the trust we have earned here in Melbourne over more than a century.”
Berkowitz Furniture has been in business since 1912 when its founder Samuel Berkowitz started a small cabinetmaking business in London before migrating to Australia.
Lucy Fenton, the director of the business, started the company in 2008 with a small furniture showroom in Prahran, in Melbourne’s inner southeast.
Fenton & Fenton quickly rose in popularity, riding the wave of Melbourne’s interior design boom.
The business’s success led to expansion, and in May 2019, a second showroom was opened in Collingwood.
The company’s online arm also rose to great heights through shipping their products across Australia and New Zealand.
The company’s Instagram page, boasting a colourful display of its in-house range and the work of artists and furniture designers, had amassed more than 350,000 followers by the time of its demise.
The collapse of Fenton & Fenton is another devastating blow to the Australian retail sector, which has been grappling with challenging economic conditions.
Another major player in the furniture retail space, Brosa, collapsed earlier this year owing $24 million, including $10 million to customers from unfulfilled orders.
E-commerce has been hit particularly hard of late, with Design A Space and Australian Made Clothes, recently collapsing.
The struggles in the retail sector have not spared well-known brands either.
Popular US shoe brand Rockport filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, while clothes seller EziBuy went into voluntary administration due to a significant decline in sales.
Even iconic music and entertainment retailer Sanity had to close all 50 of its stores due to the toll taken by the pandemic. However, it continues to operate in the digital space.
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The woes also extended to the fashion industry, with Alice McCall, Soda Shades, and Sneakerboy facing financial troubles and collapsing under heavy debts.
Even online giant Missguided succumbed to administration after failing to secure a rescue bid.
— With Jack Evans
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