EXCLUSIVE: Nick Abboud named CEO of Cheap as Chips

Former Dick Smith boss Nick Abboud has a new gig, heading up the discount variety chain Cheap as Chips. Alceon Group, which has a controlling interest in the South Australia-based retailer, confirmed the appointment to IR on Wednesday.

Abboud replaces Cheap as Chips’ previous chief executive, Shane Radbone, who led the company for four years and headed a management buyout in 2016. At the time, Radbone told The Advertiser that Cheap as Chips was a $150 million company and had a three-year plan to list on the ASX.

According to Cheap as Chips’ website, the company has over 30 stores in South Australia, regional Victoria and New South Wales and employs over 800 people.

Abboud joins the business from Kidstuff, where he served as CEO for less than six months. Prior to that, he famously steered Dick Smith from November 2012 to January 2016, during which time the electronics retailer debuted on the ASX  in an oversubscribed $530 million float, before collapsing into voluntary administration.

Abboud was among the Dick Smith management and board members who testified in a nine-day public examination of the company’s downfall in October 2016. According to reports, pressure to maximise supplier rebates led to too-high inventory levels and a poor range of products, which ultimately proved to be an untenable mix.

IR has reached out to Alceon Group for further information about Abboud’s plan for Cheap as Chips.

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