LeCornu-Fantastic Holdings’ decision to close Adelaide’s iconic Le Cornu furniture business is part of a strategy to focus on its core brands.

The group operates under its core Fantastic Furniture and Plush brands throughout South Australia, while the Le Cornu site in Keswick has been for sale since 2015 with potential buyers understood to be considering various redevelopment options.
As a consequence of the potential disruption caused by redevelopment, the furniture retailer has decided to close the Le Cornu store over the next six months with the likely loss of about 70 jobs.

The company says it hopes to redeploy about 25 of its current staff of 95 at the Keswick site.

“Fantastic Holdings is committed to its strategy of investing in strong furniture brands and we believe that winding down the Le Cornu brand in Adelaide and investing further in our core brands in South Australia is the right strategic choice,” said Debra Singh, group CEO retail.

“It will enable us to best deliver a long term platform for growth that will be positive for our customers, our people and shareholders.”
The group said the Le Cornu business has been profitable over the last few years, though trading has deteriorated in fiscal year 2016, incurring trading losses of roughly $4 million.

As a consequence of the changes, the group will incur a one off charge of $9.1 million.