Red Herring wiped out by centre rents

THE owner of Tasmanian surf retailer Red Herring says high shopping centre rents are behind the closure of the business’s long-running Glenorchy store.

The Red Herring store at Northgate is due to close at the end of this month.

Red Herring has had a store at Northgate since the early 2000s.

Wilson Retail Co managing director Anthony Wilson said the store’s current location had always been intended as a temporary site.

“The plan was that the centre would find us another location that was within our budget as the rent in our old location was killing us,” Mr Wilson said.

“Unfortunately, the centre couldn’t find us another site and the rent that they wanted for the current location as a permanent store was well beyond what we could afford.”

Mr Wilson said no staff would be impacted by the closure.

“We always have people come and go at the start of the year with university et cetera and we have been able to work our Northgate team into the Hobart store roster,” he said.

Mr Wilson said Red Herring’s remaining stores in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie were here to stay.

“We have recently extended our leases at Hobart and Launceston stores and completed renovations at Hobart late last year. Launceston will be getting a long overdue renovation later this year as well,” he said. Mr Wilson said the closure was no reflection on the strength of the business – in fact Red Herring was looking for new locations.

“The future is really bright,” he said. “Red Herring is such an iconic Tasmania brand and the messages we had from customers when we announced we we’re closing Northgate were really heartwarming.

“We’re actually looking for other towns and locations in Hobart where it makes sense.”

Red Herring Surf was established in Hobart in 1971 was sold to NSW-based Wilson Retail in 2018.

The business employs more than 80 people.

Mr Wilson said in addition to retail, Red Herring continued to sponsor local surfers and support surfing events across the state.

“The surfing community in Tassie is really vibrant and we’re privileged to be a part of it,” he said. “We have an amazing team of athletes across the state, we are one of the major sponsors of Surfing Tasmania and have a fantastic relationship with them.”

Red Herring will run its first Pro Am surfing event next weekend at South Arm and on the Tasman Peninsula.