DFO Moorabbin

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Direct Factory Outlets, abbreviated as DFO, is the name for a no-frills group of discount shopping centres in Australia. They are large-floor warehouse buildings containing partitioned stores where retail outlets sell excess or previous seasons' stocks at reduced prices.Business modelIts model is to find cheap land, build a cheap but air-conditioned shopping mall.The Direct Factory Outlet retail chain is owned by the privately owned Austexx Group, led by David Goldberger and David Weiland with their first centre opened at Moorabbin Airport (Cheltenham) in 1997. Former ACCC chief Graeme Samuel holds a $50 million interest in Austexx through a blind trust. Valued at A$1.5 billion, in early 2010 the business was put up for sale with a number of retail investment funds expressing interest.DFO centres have traditionally been located around airports: a side effect of the Airports Act of 1996, the Commonwealth Government has planning control over the land, meaning state planning legislation can be bypassed by developers. In addition the property developer is able to exploit the cost difference between retail and industrial rents, gives outlet centre operators a distinct advantage over traditional shopping centres. A survey by Melbourne newspaper The Age in 2007 found that in all three DFO-owned centres, most shops carried at least some full-price, current-season stock, available at normal shopping centres. By 2008 five legal challenges to DFO developments have been made by competing retail developers and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia, all being unsuccessful.