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sources . december 2006 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message harris scarfe love the brands . love the value . love harris scarfe type department store industry retail founded 1849 in south australia founder mr. george peter harris and mr. john c. lanyon headquarters level 1 building 8 576 swan st richmond melbourne australia key people graham dean managing director pepkor south east asia & ceo harris scarfe louise pillidge ambassador products homewares manchester cookware electrical goods womenswear and menswear intimate apparel and sleepwear sporting and footwear handbags and luggage camping and outdoor owner pepkor number of employees 2 000 website http www.harrisscarfe.com.au harris scarfe is a department store established in adelaide south australia in 1849 . it is owned by south african retail group pepkor . as of september 2015 there were 54 harris scarfe stores in two formats harris scarfe department stores and hs home homewares stores . the store has a positioning of brand led value with hi lo pricing . key categories are kitchenware manchester electrical goods and apparel . harris scarfe has expanded through organic growth new store openings mergers and acquisitions . the current store network reflects this mix in particular the purchase or merging of regional or state based retail groups including allens in new south wales and fitzgerald s in tasmania . the group is now owned by pepkor but has at times been subject to different ownership structures and a period of being in receivership . the rundle place store on rundle mall adelaide has remained the business main store and showcases a contemporary look and feel across several floors . regional and suburban store layout varies significantly . harris scarfe rundle place flagship store in adelaide contents 1 history 2 rundle place flagship store launch 3 simply vera vera wang 3.1 departments 3.2 online store 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit adelaide has been the location of a number of locally owned department stores and discount stores including john martins peoplestores miller anderson & co. cravens cox foys which harris scarfe acquired and closed in 1977 charles birks acquired by david jones in 1954 and charles moore and co. . harris scarfe is the only remaining store group . 1800s harris scarfe traces its history to 10 february 1849 when the founding partners mr. george peter harris and mr. john c. lanyon arrived in adelaide south australia on the ship candahar to establish a hardware and ironmongery business . one of their first known advertisements in the local adelaide paper was on 11 april 1850 . mr lanyon left the partnership on 22 february 1855 and returned to london where he subsequently opened up a buying house for mr geo . p harris and other businesses in south australia . this firm acted as the london house for many years . additional partners mr. george scarfe and mr. richard smith joined the business in 1866 on a hand shake . the deeds were drawn up on 10 july 1871 . harris scarfe grew to become a major supplier of a broad range of household agricultural and industrial items . mr geo . p harris returned to england in 1873 where he died on 26 november that year aged 52 . mr george scarfe continued on as chairman of the business until he died on 14 april 1903 aged 76 . their devotion to the business was such that the present company continues to carry the names of its founders . besides conducting its retailing business from its adelaide premises harris scarfe manufactured leather goods including saddlery and luggage . it also had a wholesaling operation with a team of commercial travellers who visited country regions throughout south australia . this business was supported with a promotional product catalogue which became well known in country areas . during world war ii when the australian government enforced price controls it used the harris scarfe catalogue as the price guide . after world war ii harris scarfe s prosperity grew with south australia as it supplied building materials during the postwar building boom . 1970s in 1971 baradeen quest pty limited a subsidiary of investment and merchant finance corporation limited imfc made a successful takeover bid for harris scarfe limited which at the time was a company listed on the australian stock exchange . the rundle street now rundle mall store continued trading with expansion of its frontage to establish a new womenswear department . charles davis limited a listed tasmanian company controlled by sir donald trescowthick acquired control of harris scarfe in 1976 when charles davis took over imfc . sir donald wished to acquire harris scarfe and his research indicated that the cheapest way of doing so was to take over its parent company . the trescowthick era started with growth and ended with collapse in 2001 . sir donald focussed harris scarfe s activities on its retailing business and disposed of all of its other activities . the rundle mall store continued to develop as a full line department store while the industrial products outlet at mile end evolved to become harry s a large hardware retailing business . the success of harry s led harris scarfe s parent company charles davis limited to acquire other hardware retailers including lloyd s in south australia campbell s in queensland and mcewans in victoria and new south wales . 1980s in 1989 these hardware businesses were sold in a management buyout . the rundle mall department store continued to prosper offering a broad range of items at value for money pricing with aggressive advertising . sales were facilitated by a range of purchase options including an inhouse credit card and lay by . harris scarfe s business was heavily promoted with press and television advertising and colourful advertising catalogues . these catalogues were broadly distributed in the sunday mail newspaper . as a result harris scarfe built a large phone and mail order business supported by the advertising catalogues . 1990s in the 1990s harris scarfe began an era of unprecedented growth both within south australia and interstate . it expanded from its single large store in rundle mall into a smaller format for suburban and regional shopping centres several of these stores were formerly occupied by the defunct venture chain as well as acquiring full line department store sites from other retailers including david jones cairns townsville and campbelltown nsw john martins elizabeth and arndale myer colonnades centre fair shepparton and stirlings albany bunbury and geraldton . this growth began from the company s base in south australia and was aided by the demise of the venture chain of stores previously found throughout the country . at harris scarfe s peak the company operated 38 stores in all australian states . the company continued its aggressive expansion interstate opening stores in new south wales queensland tasmania victoria and western australia . the company acquired a large amount of its retail space and its largest stores as a result of australia s two largest department store chains myer and david jones rationalising their store network . the company s expansion into tasmania was accelerated by the merger with the tasmanian department store chain fitzgeralds better known to locals as fitzys in 1995 . hence harris scarfe played a key role in the rationalisation of australian retailing in the 1990s . in 1994 harris scarfe opened its first store in suburban adelaide at parabanks in salisbury . following this successful store opening in a former venture store harris scarfe acquired more sites in south australia as well as expanding its activities to other states . during 1995 harris scarfe assumed control of the fitzgerald s department stores chain which had been operated as a separate subsidiary of charles davis limited since it was acquired in 1986 . also in 1995 charles davis limited changed its name to harris scarfe holdings limited and it then focussed on its department store activities disposing of all of its other businesses and investments . harris scarfe continued to grow becoming australia s third largest department store retailer with 38 stores and trading in all states of australia . 2000 in 2000 harris scarfe established an online retailing subsidiary leveraging on the existing successful mail and phone order business . as part of this expansion strategy it acquired dstore an online retailer which had experienced financial problems . 2001 harris scarfe s suppliers and customers and even a large number of the company s staff were shocked when the thriving business was suddenly faced with cash flow problems . the company made headlines in south australia when concerned suppliers from whom harris scarfe had purchased large amounts of stock on credit entered the flagship store in rundle mall and began retrieving their stock directly from the shelves before shocked staff and customers . the company soon entered voluntary receivership and its shares were withdrawn from the australian stock exchange . examination of the company s books revealed that assets had been re valued well above market value in an effort to conceal its spiralling losses . this practice had left the company with multimillion dollar debts . harris scarfe was sold to a private consortium with the shareholders receiving little or no proceeds of the sale . the consortium set out to firstly stabilise the business with possible expansion and a refloat on australian stock exchange in the future . the consortium began a store rationalisation program as a measure to help restore profits . in the days after the purchase all stores in queensland and new south wales where harris scarfe was under represented were closed . in its home state of south australia two suburban stores were closed munno para in the north and woodcroft in the south . the same occurred in victoria and tasmania with a limited number of unprofitable store closures . in the final stage of rationalisation it was decided the business would also withdraw from the western australian market . it could be said that given the way in which the group evolved with the acquisition of different retailers the stores do not have a consistent style and layout . some stores including the store on rundle mall and in hobart were very old and had gone without significant modernisation or enhancement . the merchandise mix remains unlike their competitors at the top end and the bottom end focused on mid market brands . this includes bonds tontine and jason . private label is limited . 2002 the company then started a revitalisation program . the remaining stores were remodelled with new stock new layouts and a new company logo . this was then followed by an extensive advertising campaign . as a result harris scarfe soon began to enjoy record sales . harris scarfe opened its first new store after the revitalisation located at werribee in victoria .