Thomas Wardle

Wardle's father, Walter Wardle, was born in Auckland New Zealand and arrived in Western Australia in 1890.

Walter worked as a valuer and later as a branch manager at the Rural and Industries Bank of Western Australia.

Tom was one of five children of Walter and his wife and the family lived in a number of towns in the south-west of the state.

He attended schools at Albany, Katanning and Tambellup, and in Perth at Thomas Street School and Perth Boys School.

Sir Thomas Edward Wardle (born 1912 in West Leederville, Western Australia, died in 1997) was a businessman and supermarket proprietor from Western Australia.

He was best known for his "Tom the Cheap" supermarket chain as well as revolutionising grocery shopping in the state.

His mother died while he was in high school and, in 1927 at the age of 15, Wardle started his working career at the National Bank.

About the time of the theft, he was engaged in a romance with his sister's Swedish-born friend Hulda Olson, whom he married on 31 August 1940.

In February 1941, aged 28, he was charged with stealing £162/8/- from the bank's Merredin branch.

He made full restitution of the money, which influenced a judge to impose a suspended sentence on a bond of £100.

Wardle joined the Citizens Military Force and in 1942 enlisted for overseas service, leaving his wife and newly born daughter Dianne behind with his parents-in-law.

He was discharged from the army in early 1946 as a staff sergeant, having seen action against the Japanese in an anti-aircraft unit in New Guinea and Malaya.

Their second child, Geoffrey, was born in October 1946, the same year Tom and Hulda opened a corner-store grocery in rented premises in Fitzgerald Street, North Perth steadily building the business and good will.

They purchased the property in 1952.

While holidaying in Sweden with his wife in 1955, Wardle observed developments in northern European supermarket retailing that was a move away from shop-counter service to a system that allowed shoppers to browse aisles of produce at their own leisure.

He also saw greater competition between retailers, unlike the resale price maintenance regime which seemed to exist in Australia.

He later spoke of the mark-ups from local supermarket chains such as Freecorns, Charlie Carters and Tom Wills:

In early 1956 he sold the Fitzgerald Street shop and rented larger premises on Charles Street.

After fitting it out himself with a self-service supermarket layout, he soon opened under a red on white sign displaying "Tom the Cheap".

His business model was essentially discounted trading margins and a no-frills service— he applied a 10% markup as opposed to the standard 25% from his competitors.

Old and new customers soon flocked to the store, attracted by his shop-wide discounts, which undercut his opposition.

High turnover returned good profits and soon Wardle embarked on a dramatic and highly successful expansion programme.

He opened his second store in Wembley in late 1957 and others in Scarborough, Bedford Park, Osborne Park and Mount Lawley in 1958.

He opened country stores in Geraldton and Kalgoorlie in 1960.

The rapidly expanding chain was initially boycotted by the supplier and large grocery cartels, and he often had to bring produce from interstate and purchase from other grocers.

Despite the difficulties, the innovative marketing proved highly successful and the expansion continued at a phenomenal rate; by December 1961 there were 39 metropolitan Perth stores as well as seven country stores.

He had a staff of 300 and a turnover of £3,500,000 per annum.

Soon after four stores in South Australia opened and one in Mentone, Victoria.

The South Australian stores were a joint venture with Frederick Fairthorne who owned 49% of the chain in that state.

Between October 1962 and May 1974, Wardle published Tom's Weekly in Perth, a free Saturday newspaper with light local news stories interspersed with advertising specials from his stores.

Until 1963, all stores were rented rather than in purchased premises.

By June 1965 he had 90 Western Australian stores, 24 in South Australia, 14 in Melbourne and 2 in Sydney.

Total annual turnover exceeded £14,500,000 and net profit in Western Australia was more than £325,000 per annum.

In addition, he operated six "Tom's Other Stores", which sold electrical appliances, drapery, clothing and furniture.

Wardle was now the fourth largest grocery retailer in Australia, behind Woolworths, Coles and Moran & Cato.

Unlike many of the larger chains however, most of Tom the Cheap stores (with the exception of the South Australian company) were owned by the family company Wardle Pty Ltd.

Wardle was a popular Lord Mayor of Perth from 1967 to 1972.

Expansion continued and by 1969 he had 185 stores across Australia and turnover was in excess of £200 million per annum.

In 1971 he acquired the John Cade stores, thus making a 208 store-strong retail empire that was barely 15 years old.

Between 20 January 1973 and 11 May 1974 it was distributed with the Weekend News.