Recently you may have viewed news reports about Beaurepairs closing the doors of over 100 stores and laying off 700 workers in another large national company collapse like Godfreys last week.

That news and the fact that the doors of Beaurepairs Lismore are closed led to speculation that the Lismore store, opposite Lismore Square, suffered as a result of the collapse.

An industry insider has told the Lismore App that the story is incorrect.

"It's incorrect because Beaurepairs is owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company from Akron (Ohio, USA) and forms part of a very broad decision to deal with the distribution of their products in the southern hemisphere."

"They've created a new management division in Kuala Lumper and found two third-party wholesalers to deal with the Dunlop and Goodyear product. That deals with their wholesale division but they have to do something with the retail division."

"Over the last few years, notwithstanding the virus (COVID-19) and the extreme weather event that occurred in Lismore, there's been an active effort made to convert Beaurepair stores to either Goodyear Autocare franchises or Dunlop Super Dealer franchises."

The source said that out of 400 stores, the group is probably down to the last 100 to convert.

"Rodney Jane has been offered the remaining 100 at a price and there's this sensational press, which doesn't really paint the full picture."

"The third-party distributors that have been appointed, and I've got to say that what they're doing isn't unique, it's what they do in every other country in the world. Australia is the only country that has a head office. In every other country on the planet including America, Europe and England, the products are all distributed by third-party distributors. So, it's just falling into line with the rest of the world. They are now trying to tidy up loose ends at the end of the three-year process."

According to the source, the Lismore Beaurepairs store was trading well and was a good business but acute staffing problems, like the rest of Lismore, forced them to close the doors three times in the last six months.

"The reason the Lismore store hasn't reopened is they were trying to staff it from Grafton."

So, what is the future of the Lismore store?

"I've been told that they may have a Dunlop Super Dealer interested in going into it. But that no deal has been done. But they're talking to people.

"They have a Goodyear Autocare store in Lismore so they don't need a second one, their focus is on converting it to a Dunlop Super Dealer and I believe they're working towards that."

The good news for Lismore is that the 6-7 jobs will return to Lismore at some point in 2024, just look out for the black and yellow branding on Brewster Street near the Square.