page_title: Smiggle
hierarchical_section_title: Smiggle
caption_attribution_description: English: A Smiggle outlet within Cat &amp; Fiddle Arcade, located in Hobart CBD.
context_page_description: Smiggle is an Australian-based retail store chain that sells stationery and related accessories. It was founded in Melbourne by Stephen Meurs and Peter Pausewang in 2003 and acquired by the Just Group in July 2007. As of February 2016, the chain has stores located across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Republic of Ireland. Smiggle is renowned for its use of vibrant bold colours and quirky graphics on most of its branded products.
  Smiggle started as an idea by Stephen Meurs and Peter Pausewang who saw a gap in the market for fun, engaging, collectable, fashionable, and affordable stationery aimed at the 5 to 14 year age group. In late 2002, Meurs started designing, developing and producing the first lines of Smiggle stationery, while Kate Martino was tasked to look for suitable retail sites around Melbourne. They decided on the name, 'Smiggle' as a mashup word for smile and giggle, reflecting their aims for the products. In addition to retailing, Meurs and Pausewang wanted to get into wholesaling, so they entered as late applicants in a Sydney trade fair with just two weeks to prepare.
context_section_description: Smiggle is an Australian-based retail store chain that sells stationery and related accessories. It was founded in Melbourne by Stephen Meurs and Peter Pausewang in 2003 and acquired by the Just Group in July 2007. As of February 2016, the chain has stores located across Australia (135), New Zealand (23), Singapore (17), United Kingdom (100), Hong Kong (14), Malaysia (4) and the Republic of Ireland (3). Smiggle is renowned for its use of vibrant bold colours and quirky graphics on most of its branded products.
  Smiggle started as an idea by Stephen Meurs and Peter Pausewang who saw a gap in the market for fun, engaging, collectable, fashionable, and affordable stationery aimed at the 5 to 14 year age group. In late 2002, Meurs started designing, developing and producing the first lines of Smiggle stationery, while Kate Martino was tasked to look for suitable retail sites around Melbourne. They decided on the name, 'Smiggle' as a mashup word for smile and giggle, reflecting their aims for the products. In addition to retailing, Meurs and Pausewang wanted to get into wholesaling, so they entered as late applicants in a Sydney trade fair with just two weeks to prepare. Commenting on that first trade fair, Martino told Dynamic Business; "To our amazement the reaction we got was overwhelming so we thought, well we're onto something here." The Smiggle team then recruited a wholesale manager, allowing the wholesaling and retailing arms of the new business to grow in tandem.
  In March 2003, Smiggle opened its first retail outlet on Chapel Street,  South Yarra, a famous shopping, dining and entertainment precinct within inner-Melbourne. "We branded our product very quickly from the early days, and we did that simply by choosing where we sat our stores," adds Martino. "We sat down as a team and worked out where we felt we needed to chase the sites and set up the original Smiggle stores. Given we're all Melbourne people and it's the city we know best, we purposely chose our sites in Melbourne close to schools, private girls schools and areas where we felt we could easily brand the product. But we realised for the retail aspect to grow we needed many sites," she explains. "So from South Yarra we opened [the second outlet at] Southland Shopping Centre, which was our very first centre store. We then opened Brighton, Melbourne Central, Hawthorn and so on."
  In July 2007, the Just Group acquired the chain for a reported $29 million, making it the seventh brand they acquired - along with Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Jacqui E, Dotti, and Peter Alexander - and the first outside fashion retailing. The Managing Director of the Just Group, Jason Murray said; "While it is our first move outside apparel, it is an ideal fit with our existing brands, infrastructure and target demographic, and is consistent with our stated aim of acquiring fashion-based retail assets that are relatively immature". At that stage, Smiggle consisted of 3 street-side stores and 15 shopping centre locations (11 in Melbourne, 5 in Sydney, and 2 in Brisbane), with limited wholesale distribution to 80 Australia Post outlets and Smiggle-branded stands within Myer department stores.
  In August 2008, Solomon Lew's public company vehicle, Premier Investments, took over Just Group for $810 million, delisting the public company from the S&P/ASX 200.
  In December 2008, Smiggle opened its first overseas store in New Zealand.
  In March 2009, Smiggle was the subject of national controversy when they commenced selling voodoo doll pencil cases which included a space to place a small photo, complete with accompanying black and red heart-shaped pins to stick into the doll-shaped item. The product was blamed for one case involving a 13-year-old girl being bullied by other school pupils using it. "Kids Free 2B Kids" lobby group director Julie Gale told the media, "I think it's typical lack of awareness from retailers... just thinking it's a cute idea not really thinking it through," adding, "It's just not appropriate." A week later Smiggle withdrew the pencil cases from shelves, leaving the
caption: A Smiggle outlet within Cat & Fiddle Arcade, located in Hobart CBD.
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