About G & R Wills

Alice Springs

I don't think anyone could call a job with G & R Wills in Alice Springs boring and un-inspiring. Based in Alice, our sales territory stretches from Camooweal in Queensland to Warburton in Western Australia. From Borroloola in the Gulf to Mintabie in northern South Australia. It's a huge area to cover with extremes in weather conditions, which see you roasting under the desert sun at 45° one day and hoping the next that the thunder storm coming in from the NW isn't going to strand you 1000km or more from home. Back in 1883, a guy called Harry Monsoor, a retailer who shares this country's entrepreneurial history, set off into the Outback with his horse-drawn conveyance, to service the community. Harry's family maintained that lifeline until 1959. It was not until 1977 that GR Wills decided to fill this gap and commenced selling to the outlying properties, spread over an area larger than Victoria. That is why the core of the business in Alice Springs is the mobile warehouse, which we take out for a week at a time. That week could involve driving up to 3500km over some of the worst roads in Australia to communities that may only see one or two supply trucks a month. The "truck" is a mobile department store. It carries clothing, bedding, kitchenware, electrical appliances, TVs and videos, camping needs and toys, the list is endless and an indispensable service to the bush.

The logistics of servicing a Territory that is measured in millions of square kilometers can be quite daunting. Some communities can be cut off from supply centres for months at a time and all supplies must be flown in. A very expensive operation.

Working in one of Australia's largest offices does have its rewards. Some of the scenery is truly awe-inspiring, from Mt Connor and the Olga's that rear up out of featureless desert landscapes, to mountain ranges and escarpments that always seem different each time, to the most glorious sunsets seen. Even the stars you see as you are lying in your swag at night, beside the truck, seem so intensely bright that you want to reach out and touch them. Who would like to trade places? Not me that's for sure.

In 2000 our mobile warehouse based in Alice Springs rolled, just out of Kintore, resulting in a change of direction for our Alice Springs operation. It was time to re-evaluate and it became evident that it was not a cost effective system and the decision to discontinue this service was made. Mark had the task of promoting the new streamlined system necessitating Alice clients giving us 48 hours notice to supply complete orders out of Darwin warehouse and deliver to their nominated transport service.

January 2001 Bidfest was successful in acquiring John Lewis Food Services from Metcash, at that time G&R Wills were a division of Metcash.

Both Metcash and Bidfest were concerned that we were too far removed from their core business, the solution for them was to agree to a management buy back, by Mark McKenzie ex C.E.O. of John Lewis Food Services and Warren Virgen, G.& R. Wills, General Manager.

On the 2nd February 2001 G & R Wills was registered in the Northern Territory as G & R Wills Holdings Pty Ltd, managed and staffed by Territorians.

This change enabled us to direct our own future.

To establish the business in our own right the following hurdles had to be overcome:

Supplier support in maintaining pricing agreement and trading terms. Those who supported us then now enjoy steady growth.
Communicating to our customer base that we now had the opportunity to model our business around their needs.
Staff are given the opportunity to work as a team to develop a business to be proud of.
Expansion of our import division enabling us to offer a better product range at a more competitive price. For example clothing is now flown from Bangkok as required allowing us the flexibility to change product style, colour and price quickly. A major increase in the toy range expanded to include pools, pool tables etc. again buying for our market and passing on the savings by importing direct. Over the past four years our import portfolio has increased ten fold. Tough to balance at times but we are now able to offer better product ranges at better prices.

Where are we going?

Acquisition of a second warehouse in Darwin allowing Annie Kohlweg to expand our clothing division plus space to hold bulk stores.
Refit our Winnellie warehouse to gain 240 pallet spaces giving our Warehouse Manager, Tony Virgen, the ability to more efficiently pick, pack and dispatch orders.
Alex Sherrin appointed as Alice Springs Branch Manager, he offers valuable experience and allows Mark to focus on his bush trips without the pressure of the day to day running of Alice Springs Branch. Over the next twelve months we will review the expansion of Alice Springs Branch.
Continue to expand our import portfolio guided by our customer base and their requirements.
Expand our sales team to allow greater opportunity for follow up on existing orders and allow our Super Sales Person, Ian Jesson to concentrate on his flying trips. Add another pilot to the team by July 2006.

Over the past 5 years our team has worked tirelessly to provide you with a level of product, service and infrastructure second to none. You can be sure this is just the beginning.

As at April 1st G. & R. Wills commences its 49th year in the Northern Territory. Coincidentally Warren will clock up 20 years service with G & R Wills on the same date.