About Us

The business now known as Wills The Quadrant was established by A H Wills in 1908 at 7 The Quadrant, in Launceston, Tasmania, where it still trades today. Wills is believed to be the oldest continuously operating music retailer in Australia.

Wills originally specialised in musical instruments – rexophones and rexophone records – and held the sole Tasmanian agency for Edison and His Masters Voice gramophone records for many years.

In 1920, Mr P A Findlay bought the business from Mr. Wills and formed a new company – Wills & Co Pty Ltd.

In 1924, radios began to make their mark as entertainment for the home, and Wills set up a department under the control of Englishman N Cave, employing six people to make Willsonia radios. These were a wireless battery-operated radio, designed by Arthur Carrington Smith, who later developed Cinesound in Sydney.

In 1930, Willsonia radios were superseded when Wills manufactured the first radiograms in Tasmania, using spring-driven motors.

In 1937, the company secured the first commercial broadcast licence for Northern Tasmania and formed the 7LA Broadcasting Station, operating under the separate company name of Findlay and Wills Broadcasters. Wills also established 7QT at Queenstown in Tasmania. As broadcast stations grew in number, so did the demand for radios, radiograms and recordings. A Wills branch shop was also opened at Queenstown, selling radios, gramophones, instruments and records. Unfortunately those premises were destroyed by fire some years later and trading at Queenstown did not continue.

In 1957, the then General Manager, Norman Findlay, asked his nephew Phil Frith to join the company. Wills had obtained the wholesale agency for distribution of RCA records in Tasmania and Mr. Frith was employed to distribute these around the State.

In 1967 Mr. Frith was appointed manager of Wills and by 1979 held around 50 per cent of its shares. He became the sole owner of the business in 1987 and recorded 47 years of employment through to August 2004 when the business was sold to a group of long-serving employees now trading as Wills The Quadrant Pty Ltd.

The 1960’s saw the introduction of black and white televisions. Wills started renting black and white TV’s, which grew to become a profitable part of the business.

The next boom came in 1975 when coloured televisions hit Tasmania.

Company Profile

In 1981, video recorders arrived on the scene and Wills quickly made that much sought-after item a key component of its business – in the process, establishing itself as a specialist store in home entertainment.

The following year, Wills obtained other premises at the rear of The Quadrant to establish a video library business, the first in Launceston – eventually branching this out into the suburbs and operating seven days a week. By 1990, Wills had four video libraries in Launceston. This part of the business was sold to Blockbuster Australia in 1995.

Through the 90’s, Wills’ main retail shop in The Quadrant was further developed, devoting itself to providing the best music, hi-fi, TV’s, video cameras and numerous other products.

Wills then moved into mobile phones, becoming a Telstra Premium Dealer. In conjunction with this, the music side of the business was relocated to 3 The Quadrant to enable the main shop to focus on the rapidly changing audio / visual and mobile phone industries.

In December 2001, Wills opened a mobile phone kiosk at Meadow Mews Shopping Centre, to ensure the business caught as much of the mobile phone market as possible. In November 2006, another kiosk was opened at Mowbray Market Place and in October 2007 a third kiosk was opened at Prospect Vale Market Place.

Wills now has a private office area in The Quadrant for corporate mobile phone customers. A team of very knowledgeable staff ensure that corporate clients are on suitable and adequate mobile plans.

In 2008 Wills opened our dedicated mobile phone store in the Quadrant Mall, allowing mobile phone customers to be served by dedicated staff with specialist industry knowledge.

In March 2009 Wills Music was relocated to new premises in Brisbane Street next to the cinema, and in July 2009 our main retail shop moved to new larger premises at the corner of York Street and the Kingsway. With bigger, brighter premises we are now in a position to carry a greater range of stock, and provide a better shopping experience for our customers long into the future.

Wills in The Quadrant has undergone continual change to always remain a very inviting and lively shop displaying the latest in digital technology. It boasts long term, dedicated staff, with current employment at 55, and prides itself on excellent customer service.

Wills is a member of the largest independent buying groups in Australia, Narta for hardware and Leading Edge for software. This enables Wills to be competitive against the multi-national companies.

The full Wills product range now includes the latest Plasma and LCD TV’s, DVD and blue-ray recorders, digital still cameras, camcorders, car sound, computers, hi-fi and home theatre systems, mobile and fixed line phones and a huge range of pre-recorded CD’s and DVD’s.

Wills success story is based on moving with the times in an exciting industry that changes quickly.

Many more images of our company's history are available in our gallery...