By James Wells

The relaunched electrical and home retailer Betta Home Living has confirmed that 40 stores have defected from Retravision, including the former chairman, Ian Ray.

Betta Stores Retail (BSR) chief executive officer Graeme Cunningham told Current.com.au that there have been 32 stores from Retravision Southern which have joined his group, as well as six stores in Queensland and two stores in Western Australia.

All new stores to join BSR will now feature the new Betta Home Living branding.

With the addition of the 40 former Retravision stores, BSR now boasts over 180 shopfronts nationally.

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Current.com.au understands that of the 32 stores acquired from Retravision Southern, 13 of these are located in Tasmania, including Hobart, Devonport and Launceston, as well as number of regional stores in the island state.

The number of stores which have defected from Retravision Southern to BSR conflicts with the number of stores confirmed by Retravision Australia CEO Paul Holt in a story posted on Current.com.au last Friday.

"As we speak, I can tell you that 14 stores went to BSR (Betta Stores Retail), 13 stores closed, 12 stores went to Bi-Rite, 45 stores have remained in the group and 17 stores are others or undecided,” Holt said.

One of the most notable additions to BSR is the Swan Hill store run by former Retravision chairman Ian Ray. Rumours of Ray’s defection began circulating in mid-June. At the time, Ray refused to confirm he had joined BSR, though he did admit to holding discussions with the Narta member.

Within the 40 stores previously aligned to Retravision that have joined BSR are a number of stores that did not trade under the Retravision brand, but under other brand names.

Current.com.au understands that the Broome and Carnavon Best Buy Electrical brands are the two Retravision stores from Western Australia to join BSR, while two of the former Retravision Southern stores in Victoria to make the switch, in Bendigo and Corrowa, were previously trading under the Reilly’s brand.

Cunningham remains tight-lipped regarding the current buying power of the BSR group, but with most of the new stores being regionally-based and turning over less than $2 million, the group is estimated to have a new turnover of between $300 million and $350 million.

Cunningham admits that the group could potentially represent total buying power of $500 million in the future.

“$500 million – I hope so, possibly one day,” he said.