International discount retailer Panda Mart landed in Cranbourne in early 2025 and made headlines throughout the year with a roller coaster of incidents.
It opened its first store Australia-wide at the ex-Masters site at the Cranbourne Homemaker Centre in late February, offering a variety of products from kitchenware, furniture, and cleaning supplies to home decoration and outdoor sports equipment.
The bargain retailer started its business first in South Africa more than a decade ago and expanded the global empire over the years into South America, the US, and New Zealand.
Owner John Chen told Star News that the business chose Cranbourne as its first destination in Australia because the area had been developing quickly with a growing influx of immigrants and a high demand for shopping.
The grand opening drew far more shoppers than expected. Reports described hours-long queues, packed carparks, and crowds winding around neighbouring stores. Fights broke out among frustrated customers who queued for a long time just to get in. Staff struggled to manage crowd flow, and police were called in. At times, the store even had to shut early due to overcrowding.
One nearby resident described the scene as “chaotic and out-of-control,” and Panda Mart, overwhelmed by over 10,000 customers per day, later apologised for the safety issues and promised to improve crowd and checkout management.
While shoppers were still discussing the opening chaos, Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) dropped a bombshell public warning, urging anyone who had purchased goods from the store to stop using them immediately and return them for a refund.
Inspectors seized thousands of products that they believe fail to meet mandatory product safety and information standards, including toys and baby rattles containing button batteries that were inadequately secured or labelled.
In response, Panda Mart said it would liaise with suppliers on the proper labelling of products that contain button batteries and also hire a professional to check stocks.
Later in March, a violent daylight robbery sent the store back into public attention. One widely circulating video showed that a security guard was trying to stop one of the men from robbing, and a passerby intervened, striking the offender with a guitar. In another video, several men attempted to use metal bars to hit the store’s security guard and store staff. They then jumped onto a white van and fled.
Security staff later talked about ongoing challenges with retail theft and said the store had been trying various measures to reduce stock loss after months of turbulent activity since opening.
Two days after the incident, police attended a property in Arnott Street in Cranbourne North following the robbery and arrested a woman and two men.
As the year came to a close, in early December, the state’s consumer watchdog CAV cracked down on the business for the second time. This time, it was granted a court injunction to stop Panda Mart from trading for almost 72 hours.
An inspection of two stores in Cranbourne and Preston the week before identified several items of concern, including banned candles with flammable contents next to the wick, toys with unsecured button batteries, choking hazards, and flotation devices without adequate warnings.
CAV director Nicole Rich said in a statement that most items sold at the Preston store during inspections in September, after the warning about the Cranbourne store, met Australia’s product safety standards. However, the recent inspections of two stores found shelves re-filled with non-compliant items. Ms Rich described the situation as “particularly disappointing”.
After the temporary closure, Panda Mart reopened and offered a 20 per cent storewide discount to thank customers for their patience.
The company issued a statement affirming its commitment to safety and cooperation with regulators while promoting its vast product range and continued service to shoppers.
