Consumer Affairs staff inspect Panda Mart products in Melbourne. Picture: Nine News Melbourne
Discount retailer Panda Mart is at risk of being shut down in one Aussie state forever over alleged product safety breaches.
Two stores in the Victorian suburbs of Preston and Cranbourne are now the subject of a Supreme Court application by Consumer Affairs Victoria.
The department is aiming to shut the two sites down indefinitely after claiming they were selling unsafe products despite repeated warnings since they opened last year.
Shoppers don’t seem to concerned with the alleged safety issues. Picture: Nine News Melbourne
“We’ve found more products that we allege don’t comply with product safety laws,” Consumer Affairs Victoria director Nicole Rich told Nine News Melbourne.
The fresh court action, if upheld, would force Panda Mart to close until operators could prove the safety of products sold at the outlets.
Nicknamed ‘real-life Temu’, Panda Mart opened its first Australian stores in Victoria in 2025 to intense public interest and huge crowds.
Consumer Affairs Victoria director Nicole Rich is looking to shut Panda Mart down. Picture: Nine News Melbourne
Despite success with consumers, it took authorities just one month to issue Panda Mart’s first safety warning.
And in December last year Panda Mart was forced to cease trading entirely for three days due to a court injunction.
The owner of the Cranbourne store has already been slapped with 147 charges over alleged product safety breaches, Nine News Melbourne reported.
Panda Mart has two stores in Victoria and one in Queensland. Picture: Nine News Melbourne
While authorities are concerned about Panda Mart’s product safety, customers are unfazed.
“Get a life,” one shopper said of the pending legal action.
Meanwhile, the Panda Mart brand has continued its Australian expansion outside Victoria.
Queensland’s first Panda Mart opened in August to massive crowds after taking over an old Bunnings site.
Videos taken by shoppers showed customers tearing products from shelves at the new Brisbane store, leaving aisles piled with unboxed products.
Shoppers continue to flock to Panda Mart stores. Picture: Nine News Melbourne
Panda Mart – which launched in South Africa in 2010 and now operates more than 100 stores worldwide – declared “the wait is over” for Queensland s the new store opened.
Specialised traffic management crews and extra security were deployed to the carpark to keep tempers from boiling over as drivers hunted for parks, with dozens risking illegal parking fines on surrounding industrial streets.