John Davies is retiring after 24 years of owning Joondalup Retravision
Camera IconJohn Davies is retiring after 24 years of owning Joondalup Retravision Credit: Supplied/Emma Reeves

Last ring of the till

Justin Bianchini, Joondalup WeekenderWanneroo Times

John Davies, who started his electrical goods store with wife Vanessa nearly 25 years ago, is selling up Joondalup Retravision for newcomer Kambo’s to start on May 18.

The Duncraig resident, known for raffling Harley Davidson motorcycles, is yet to decide his next move but is sure it will be ‘something to do with people’.

‘I love people, that’s the thing about the last 25 years,’ he said.

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‘It has been a tremendous journey; there are so many lovely people.

‘This past week, I can’t believe; Vanessa has been in tears two or three times a day,people telling us how much they’ve enjoyed us being here.

‘The truth is we’ve enjoyed them. Our business has been personal, wonderful. We are in huge debt to all those people who have made us happy. It hasn’t been a job.’

The Davies, who have also been helped by their son Ben, remember a worrying start when ‘there was no Joondalup just about; the hospital was there’.

‘We later found out from a rep they were taking bets on how long we’d last; Joondalup was just bush, no people,’ he said.

‘We started in November and for that month, we made $23,000, and in December we did $24,000.

‘We had borrowed $200,000 from the bank to cover the stock bill, which was due at the end of January. Vanessa said to me ‘are we in a bit of trouble, John’. I said ‘love, we can only do what we can do, maybe we can go to the bank and ask if they can be lenient for a month or two’.

‘We did $186,000 for January and that was the start of the business.’