Pascoes sparkling ever stronger

Not content with opening its 200th store, family-owned jeweller James Pascoe says it could add at least another 60 stores in Australia under the Prouds brand it bought out of administration in the late 1990s.

It said yesterday more opportunities were apparent with the introduction of Prouds as concessions within Farmers department stores in New Zealand, which it acquired for $122.3 million about 18 months ago.

Like its far younger rival Michael Hill, Australian operations make up the bulk of JPL's business. The latest store, a Prouds, will be opened in Griffith, New South Wales, on April 22, bringing the total number of Prouds stores in Australia to 144.

JPL has another 56 stores in New Zealand under the Pascoes, Prouds and Stewart Dawson's brands.

Michael Hill, in contrast, has 154 stores in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada - although founder Michael Hill only opened the first store in that chain in Whangarei in 1979.

James Pascoe, grandfather of JPL's Anne Norman, opened his first New Zealand jewellery store in 1906.

The company's big push didn't come until 90 years later, when it bought Prouds. Prouds was then making losses of A$11 million a year, but its New Zealand owners returned it to profit within three years.

"When Pascoes first ventured into the Australian market through the purchase of the then 93-year-old Prouds chain it was told it had taken on a dinosaur and that, to survive, it had to find a niche market," the company said yesterday.

"Ignoring this advice, the decision was taken to use larger floor areas and, in effect, make Prouds a 'jewellery department store'."

It said that approach had paid off. Australian sites tended to be larger than New Zealand sites, and carried fashion and silver jewellery as well as gifts. That has allowed Prouds to open stores in towns with a relatively low population base, an approach suited to Australia.

JPL said international suppliers placed the group in their top 10 on a world ranking.