Former Dick Smith director of buying and marketing Rodney Orrock has landed a new role as chief executive of fashion retailer Best & Less.
During his time at Dick Smith, Orrock was responsible for running the brand-label product buying and managing brands such as Apple, Toshiba and LG. He was also responsible for introducing the fitness category to Dick Smith.
Prior to joining Dick Smith, Orrock was general manager for Domayne’s retail business for nearly eight years. He was also national business manager for Harvey Norman for two years.
“Best & Less is a brand that’s been in the market place for 50 years,” said Orrock. “I spent eight years in furniture and bedding for Domayne, which is probably more aligned to this business. I enjoy the retail market place, I understand consumer electronics but I understand retail more and I’m really focused on what I can do here.”
Orrock also weighed in on Dick Smith’s fall into administration earlier this month, just five months after he left the company for health reasons.
“I was surprised in terms of what had happened. At the end of the day, there’s 3000 employees in that company, so they’re going through an enormous amount of turmoil at this point.”
“I was there for 13 months; there’s only so much you can do to change the business and work out whether it will be a reality or not. I enjoy the retail market place, I understand consumer electronics but I understand retail as well and I’m really focused on what I can do here.”
Orrock replaced Holly Kramer at Best & Less, who exited in May last year.
A month after Orrock’s departure in August, Dick Smith announced net profit had only grown by 3.1 percent to $43.4 million. By January, Dick Smith had fallen into administration with $390 million in debt.
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