School supplies company Campion Education is looking to capitalise on the collapse of its main competitor Wooldridges by opening new stores in Perth and hiring staff that have been made redundant.
Having only operated in Perth for two years, Campion was believed to have only five per cent of the school supplies market.
WA manager Mike Ellis has previously stated that he wanted to lift the company’s market share to 30 per cent in the next few years.
Campion said today it would be “having conversations with (Wooldridges) staff in the next fortnight” and that it “will significantly increase its retail network in Western Australia”.
Campion also said it was working with WA schools to give them some certainty in the wake of the collapse of Wooldridges.
Administrators from Grant Thornton took charge of the Wooldridges business earlier this week and soon after closed all six Wooldridges stores and terminated the employment of 50 staff.
Wooldridges dire cash position had been the root cause of its collapse, Grant Thornton partner Matthew Donnelly said they had been left no option but to close the stores.
Wooldridges was founded by the Majors family in Perth, in 1960, and was sold in 2008 to Sydney-based private equity firm Fulcrum Capital Partners which embarked upon national expansion.
