The closures of Glue Store, Barbecues Galore and Lincraft in 2026 are proving to be a fundamental shift in the mid-market retail sector.
This is according to RMIT Associate Professor Carol Tan, who teaches in the School of Fashion and Textiles.
Tan said these three retailers span fashion, outdoor lifestyle, and craft, which indicates that this is not a sector-specific crisis but a fundamental shift in the fortunes of physical, mid-market retail.
“These were not failing businesses that lost relevance overnight. What undid them was a combination of cost-of-living pressure, rising operational costs, and a fundamental shift in how Australians shop,” Tan said.
“It is telling that Glue’s own parent company, Accent Group, continues to operate specialty sneaker and streetwear formats successfully. They didn’t exit physical retail. They exited the undifferentiated middle of it.”
The reign of Glue Store came to an end this week after 28 years of selling premium streetwear, stopping all sales going through its website. The retailer's stores have also wound up this month.
On its website, the Glue Store team told customers they are grateful for their loyalty and support over the years.
Founded by Hilton Seskin in 1998, the fashion and footwear retailer scaled into a meaningful operation, stocking brands including Nike, Adidas, Stussy and Carhartt. Twenty years after being founded, the business began struggling and was eventually snapped up by Hilco Capital in 2019 from the Australian subsidiary of UK athleisure retail group, JD Sports Fashion.
Hilco has a reputation for turning around troubled retail businesses, sometimes through full acquisition and other times through partnership. The company has been behind the turnarounds of retailers such as GAP and Debenhams, and more recently acquired Cue Clothing Co.
According to Hilco, Glue Store formed part of the Next Athleisure group back then, which also included Trend Imports, a wholesale business specialising in sales, distribution and marketing, offering a portfolio of international and local brands to major department stores, multinationals and independent retailers.
The company reported that Next Athleisure was making an EBITDA loss of AUD $5.9 million around 2019, and was facing a high risk of insolvency.
After two years of ownership, the business returned to profitability, generating $3.6 million EBITDA.
Glue was then sold to Accent Group in 2021. Accent manages over 20 retail brands, either owned or under license. This includes Hoka, Platypus, Timberland, Stylerunner and, more recently, Sports Direct.
The recent wind-up of Glue Store comes as Accent Group saw slips in earnings and profit in the first half of FY26, off the back of decent sales growth.
Accent reported a 40 per cent slip in its net profit after tax (NPAT), hitting $28.1 million for the first half of FY26.
This came alongside a 2.3 per cent lift in total sales to $865.2 million, with owned sales (excluding The Athlete’s Foot franchises) up 5.7 per cent. Accent is now facing an ASIC investigation, and is fielding a takeover bid from Sports Direct owner Frasers Group.
Meanwhile, Barbeques Galore is winding up after a recent administration and after 50 years in operation, while Lincraft is closing its doors after 88 years in operation.
Associate Professor Tan said Australian brands that succeed are building tight, loyal communities around a specific identity.
“They own their customer relationships directly rather than relying on third-party retail,” Tan said. “They are digital-first but not digital-only, using physical presence strategically rather than as their primary distribution model. And they stand for something specific enough that customers seek them out.”
Tan added that physical retail isn’t dying, but that the fundamentals around the channel are changing.
“What consumers have stopped doing is making trips for retailers that give them no compelling reason to be there,” she said.
“These three closures in a single week are not a story about the death of retail stores. They are a story about the death of the undifferentiated middle.
“Succeed at the value end, succeed at the experience and specialty end, and you will have customers. Exist somewhere vaguely in between with nothing distinctive to offer, and you won’t.”