Opposites attract: Why Berkowitz Furniture snapped up Fenton & Fenton

Fenton & Fenton does not seem like an obvious fit for Berkowitz Furniture. Although the businesses operate in a similar category – the target audiences, marketing campaigns and product styles are largely different.  

But Berkowitz Furniture director Peter Berkowitz said this was a key point of attraction that drove its acquisition of Fenton & Fenton, which collapsed and entered liquidation in August.  

As part of the acquisition, Lucy Fenton will continue as creative director of the furniture, homewares and art brand. Berkowitz said this signalled Berkowitz’s intention for the brand to preserve its distinct and creative style, with plans to reopen its physical stores and e-commerce operations later this year.

With reports from liquidators EY that Fenton & Fenton owed customers nearly $1.6 million in unfulfilled orders, the immediate challenge for the fifth-generation furniture group is addressing that issue: through managing its global supply of stock and fulfilling orders. 

But Berkowitz is excited by what the brand has to offer, and how Fenton & Fenton will complement the group.

“We had an emotional [connection to] Fenton & Fenton because we love their creativity and style. It’s very opposite in certain ways to what Berkowitz Furniture stands for,” Berkowitz said.

“They also sell a lot of products online, which isn’t our strength. We plan to maintain their creativity and, with a bit of assistance in the background, we can [build a strong business].”

Fenton & Fenton will add to the Berkowitz Furniture’s group portfolio, which already operates 10 locations across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales under its name.

Despite Fenton & Fenton being established prior to its collapse, Berkowitz believes there’s a strong opportunity to continue building the Fenton & Fenton brand from the ground up; however, the immediate challenge is to ensure its viability.

“There is a lot of hard work and complications that we’re working through [but] we hope we can enjoy long-term success with the Fenton & Fenton brand,” he said.

What they’re really good at

After discovering that Fenton & Fenton was going into liquidation, Berkowitz explained that he called the liquidator, EY, to learn more, and to get the ball rolling. Information was progressively drip-fed through, which made the acquisition process slightly more complicated.

Now that it has been completed, the group’s primary focus is addressing customer concerns and engaging with suppliers regarding stock levels.

“At the moment, supply is coming from all around the world, and we’re trying to get stock in to fulfill those existing orders,” Berkowitz said.  

“We’ve only been operational for a week, but in three or four weeks, we’ll shift our focus onto reopening the store and ensuring we have [sufficient stock] to regenerate. We’ll have new products coming in but, at the moment, the [emphasis] is on those previous customers and their orders.”

He stressed that, once reopened, there would be no intention to significantly change the product lines on offer, or change the look and feel of the store, which partly drew the group to the business.

“Their products are exciting and colourful, and [from our perspective] that’s untouchable and what they’re really good at,” Berkowitz said.

Growth plans

Fenton & Fenton has a strong customer database and social media base, with over 350,000 Instagram followers, but Berkowitz said that he hasn’t established strong plans on how to leverage this.

“We’ve decided to focus on [Fenton & Fenton’s] immediate problems. Once we’ve settled that, we can make decisions that benefit both [Berkowitz Furniture and Fenton & Fenton],” he said.

While there are still these challenges to navigate, Berkowitz underscored the opportunity to diversify its customer base and enter new markets through the recently acquired brand.

Regarding future strategies, Berkowitz Furniture has expanded its store network in recent years, opening a shop in Adelaide and three in Sydney. It aspires to open more stores across Queensland and continue growing in New South Wales. 

For Fenton & Fenton, there are plans to continue growing the business. But, for now, Berkowitz said it would be “slow steps” ahead.

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