Photos in shuttered Ally store reveals grim voluntary administration reality as Australia faces 'aggressive' China threat

Yahoo

08-05-2025

Retailer Ally was forced into a $10 sale marathon after the business was closed forever. (Source: Yahoo Finance Australia)
The retail industry is facing a rocky future as consumer spending remains muted amid global uncertainty, interest rate decisions and the cost-of-living crisis. Several big-name retailers have recently gone bust or been plunged into administration after dominating the sector for years or even decades.
Sanity, Godfreys, Rivers, Noni B, Alice McCall, Ally, and Jeanswest are some of those brands that have been forced to close, drastically shrink, or change how they operate. Yahoo Finance found a grim scene inside an Ally store in Sydney that shut when the retailer was ordered into liquidation and hundreds lost their jobs in March.
The racks were full but the lights were off and doors of the store, inside Sydney's Central Park, were closed.
So what happens to all of those clothes?
Before they shut for good, they usually try to sell all of their items to recoup some costs and clear out their inventory.
Jeanswest sold more than 53,000 pairs of jeans in the first week of a nationwide discounting campaign but Ally - which was launched in 2001 - had no such luck, despite sales as low as $10.
"Eventually, all stores close and any remaining products are either donated to charity stores, or if sufficient volumes remain the voluntary administrator may attempt to sell those inventories to a retailer like TK Maxx," QUT consumer expert Professor Gary Mortimer told Yahoo Finance.
An Ally store in Sydney's Central Park building had a flash sale before the doors were closed on the retailer forever. (Source: Yahoo Finance Australia)
The consumer expert described TK Maxx's business model as "opportunistic" because the retailer usually pounces on buying and selling off-price merchandise.
They receive their stock from a wide variety of places, whether they're from cancelled orders, inventory from closed businesses, or end-of-season products.
Mortimer said in some cases, remnants can be packed up and sent to a central store for a flash sale but that was costly.
"Retailers normally try to avoid this practice as transporting heavily discounted products only increases costs, thus losses," he said.
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Why are so many retail stores collapsing in Australia?
It's no secret that certain industries have been affected by the cost-of-living crisis and its effect on consumer spending.
Food and beverage services is without a doubt the worst hit, with 9.3 per cent of businesses in this sector shutting down in the 12 months to February this year.
Retail isn't far behind, with a 5.7 per cent closure rate.
CreditorWatch chief economist Ivan Colhoun said many businesses were propped up during the pandemic thanks to government support and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) stopping its pursuit of tax debts.