s Galore waited until creditors, suppliers and cash shortages decided what would survive. As retail analyst and CEO of Retail Community, Dean Salakas put it, “Growth is expensive.”  Selling barbecues was no longer enough Ultimately, Barbeques Galore’s collapse was financial, driven by losses, cash pressure and a cost base which the company could no longer support. Salakas noted the deeper strategic problem was that its stores had lost the specialist value needed to justify those costs. Many of its inventory, such as Barbecues and pizza ovens, are already available through Bunnings, online marketplaces and numerous outdoor retailers, so a specialist chain needs to offer more than rows of Webers and competing price tags. “If they’re just selling products, I think they’ve missed the point,” Salakas said. “Barbeques Galore were in the business of selling barbecues instead of thinking, ‘How do we help people barbecue better?’” Salakas explained there were many methods the specialist retailer could have done to achieve this, including cooking demonstrations, recipes, maintenance advice, outdoor-kitchen planning, which in turn could have turned an infrequent purchase into a continuing relationship. Barbeques Galore had previously promoted the BBQ Legends program and experimented with experiential retail, indicating that it understood the value of selling knowledge alongside the hardware. “Understanding your customer’s problem and how you solve it-that’s been customer-focused,” Salakas said.  Barbeques Galore had barely any room left to reinvent itself by the time it entered voluntary administration and receivership in February. In FY24, the retailer reported $172.2 million in revenue but a $16.1 million pre-tax loss. Its 62 company-owned stores closed, and a reported 500 employees lost their jobs. The chain still looked substantial from the outside, but sales could no longer support the leases, inventory and obligations required to keep such a large retail apparatus running. This week, Melbourne wholesaler Acom International acquired Barbeques Galore, with longstanding executive Mike Ainsworth appointed chief executive of the revived business. The lighter operation, according to Acom, will rely on a renewed ecommerce business, wholesale partners, potential exports and independently owned stores operating under licence, with 24 of the former 27 independent locations expected to continue. The name survives, although the physical chain that made it a household fixture has disappeared. Salakas sees a risk in separating a specialist retailer from its physical presence. “Those stores were billboards,” he said. “They were experience centres for the brand.” A jeweller confronting its own excess To look at the other end of the spectrum is to look at Michael Hill. Its chief executive Jonathan Waecker, who took the role in August last year, inherited four smaller brands that each demanded separate ranges, packaging, campaigns, websites and management attention. The jeweller then confronted its own excess by closing one brand, Medley and absorbing two others, TenSevenSeven and Watches Galore, leaving Michael Hill and Bevilles as its principal banners. The group generated $654.7 million in FY26 sales and turnover increased across Australia, New Zealand and Canada, where growth reached 7 per cent. “They’re getting more growth and more profit from being smaller,” Salakas said. “They’re not trying to be smaller. They’re just trying to be more focused.” The results do not prove the closures caused the growth. However, they suggest the remaining brands benefited from greater attention.  In the end, both retailers became smaller, but only Michael Hill chose the timing and the terms. “You kind of have to make a call, and there are a lot of unknowns,” Salakas said. Michael Hill made that call while it still had control, cutting brands before they consumed more capital and attention. Barbeques Galore, though, continued weathering costs and complexity until financial distress decided what was worth saving.  The lesson is hard to miss – retailers that simplify early retain the privilege of choosing what comes next, but businesses that wait may find the decision has already been made for them.