Rewinding a career

But his uncle Norman Findlay had other ideas. He owned radio stations 7LA Launceston and 7QT Queenstown.

He also had a small business in Launceston's Quadrant Mall selling records and record players - and no children.

So he asked young Phil if he'd like to work in the store he'd bought from the Wills family in 1923.

In the late 1950s Phil Frith joined the retailing industry, in the music store and as a travelling representative around Tasmania - Wills was the State wholesaler for RCA records.

To a generation used to CDs, DVDs and mini hi-fi systems the size and weight of the old 78rpm records would be laughable.

But in the pre-television age they, and the massive old gramophones they were played on, were prized possessions.

Part of Wills's success was keeping abreast of all the latest technical advances. In the '60s television came to Tasmania in a big way and Wills moved into the black and white TV rental market in 1968.

In 1973 hi-fi systems and cassettes hit the market, gradually replacing discs.

Wills continued to expand, adding the corner cakeshop and Walker's flower shop to its premises in the Quadrant.

"I've always been interested in new trends and technology and in 1980 I went to Japan," Mr Frith says.

"It was the start of the video recorder age and when I came back we started renting out video recorders and the videos themselves.

"It grew strongly for four or five years and we opened video stores in Wellington St, the city, Kings Meadows and Mowbray."

In 1995 the video business was sold to US giant Blockbuster but Wills kept the freeholds.

Although he's been with the business for about 47 years Phil Frith has had a few short breaks. In 1967 he sailed to the UK on the Orcades.

On board he met Geraldine, a young Melbourne girl also embarking on the traditional grand tour of Europe.

A year later they were married. They still are, and have a daughter, Nicole, in Hobart, and son, David, in the IT business in Melbourne.

In what some might see as a reversal of the norm, Wills has continued to expand and succeed despite growing competition from the electrical and homewares mega- retailers.

"It's because we've always specialised - we sell a whole range of televisions, hi-fis and other electrical goods but we don't handle washing machines and other whitegoods," he says.

"We're part of a national buying chain but we rely on our own name and heritage.

"We spend a lot of time on staff training and those specialists have been a very significant part of our success."

Some of those experts have been with the business for 20 years or more.

Mr Frith's ownership of Wills was a gradual process, buying shares from other family members before gaining full control in 1987. He will stay on for a year, in his present first-floor office, as a consultant.

But he is delighted that the business will be in the hands of people who know it so well.

He has no doubts about its future, especially given the buoyant Tasmanian economy and consumer confidence, which he says is better than he can remember.

Retailing, like most other businesses in the State, has been through some tough times in the past.

In semi-retirement, he plans to play more golf and go fishing - on the East Coast or at Arthurs Lake, where he has a shack.

But selling Wills is by no means an end to Mr Frith's business involvement. He'll still be looking after his sizeable commercial property portfolio in Launceston.