JB Hi-Fi was established in Melbourne suburb of Keilor East by John Barbuto in 1974. Barbuto sold the business in 1983 to Richard Bouris and David Rodd who expanded JB Hi-Fi into a chain of ten stores in Melbourne and Sydney turning over $150 million by 2000, when they sold the majority of their holding to private equity. It was subsequently floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in October 2003.
At first, the company specialised in Hi-Fi equipment. As the mainstream popularity of vinyl records declined, in 1991 JB Hi-Fi cleared out their entire stock of records and began offering exclusively CDs, and were one of the first Australian music retailers to do so.[citation needed] However, with the recent revival of vinyl records larger stores are stocking them again. This allowed JB Hi-Fi to open many new stores in Melbourne and later expand to other states. The chain now has stores all around Australia and in New Zealand's largest cities.
Recently, while many music stores claim to have been losing money, JB Hi-Fi has increased profits by 26% FY10 when compared to 2008/2009.[3] JB also specialises in imported CDs, mainly from the United Kingdom and the United States, although CDs from other places, such as Africa, Asia and South America are available on special order.
JB Hi-Fi has diversified its business from predominantly selling music CDs, and are now a major retailer for Plasma and LCD televisions, audio/visual, digital camera photography, portable audio, in-car entertainment, computer/video games, DVD & Blu-ray movies, gadgets and information technology. As of 2012, JB HiFi has diversified into other accessories, such as CB Radios, IP and fixed surveillance camera systems, musical instruments such as guitars, electronic keyboards, Ukeleles and guitars, and pro-dj equipment such as CD mixers, microphones and portable DJ P/A docking systems.
Currently JB Hi-Fi is the number 1 retailer of Apple Computer hardware in Australia, even more than Apple retail stores. JB Hi-Fi is also the sole retail chain in Australia that sells Dell Computer hardware in retail stores.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported in June 2007 that JB Hi-Fi is now Australia's biggest CD retailer and is second in terms of sales of computer games, televisions and car stereos.[6]
In the full year 2009/10 report, it was reported that there are now 131 store locations in Australia and 10 in New Zealand.
As of 28 June 2012 the JB Hi-Fi Website Store Locator[7] listed 157 store locations across Australia (ACT 4, NSW 42, NT 1, QLD 35, SA 9, TAS 1, VIC 48 and WA 18).
As of 2011 the company has thirteen stores open in New Zealand with eight in Auckland and one store each in Wellington, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin.
In November 2011, JB Hi-Fi announced a web-based, streaming music service called JB Hi-Fi NOW which allows people to stream unlimited music for A$99 per year. On 13 December, the service was launched offering a free one-month trial.[8] JB HiFi NOW claims a library of up to 7 million tracks, with plans to expand the library to around 15 million tracks. As of April 2012, JB HiFi NOW is now available from iPhone and Android Apps, and as of late 2012, the app is now available on Windows Phone 7.
In December 2012, JB HiFi launched "JB HiFi Home", an ancillary to their business selling whitegoods and appliances.
In April 2013, JB HiFi announced and launched an ancillary service to their "JB HiFi NOW" service, books.jbhifi.com.au - which sells e-books online to JB HiFi NOW customers.
