It was Tivoli Hi-Fi & Stereo Repairs, with a sideline in burglar alarms, when two hi-fi technicians and a security-savvy third partner first set themselves up in Melbourne, back in October 1973. It was “a typical backyard situation”, says one of the three originals, Philippe Luder, who is Director still of a very different Tivoli Hi-Fi five decades on — now a modern Melbourne experience centre packed with established brands: a destination store for hi-fi and AV.
“Tivoli started in a typical backyard situation — the backyard of a house in Hawthorn, where we basically did just repairs, no retailing,” he tells us. “We called ourselves Tivoli Hi-Fi & Stereo Repairs, that’s what was registered at the time — it became Tivoli Hi-Fi Pty Ltd when we incorporated in 1976. There was Pierre and myself, we were both technicians previously, and we decided
