In the 1970s, John Martin's developed a national discount store chain – Venture. Ultimately, this chain was sold, and it operated under separate ownership until 1994 (when it closed due to financial problems – unrelated to John Martin's). By the 1980s, department store retailing was becoming increasingly competitive, and regional chains were under pressure to consolidate- to increase sales and cut costs (by spreading fixed overhead costs over a broader store network). John Martin's department store competitors were expanding nationally – for example, Myer acquired Lindsay's (the basis for their "Target" chain), Boans and Grace Brothers. Then, food and discount retailer Coles took over Myer in 1985. Also, the discount store phenomenon was gaining momentum, with Kmart and Target expanding rapidly, and the establishment of BIG W. Another pressure was the increased availability of bank credit cards. Before 1974, when Australian banks introduced "Bankcard", the majority of retail purchase credit was offered by department stores through "in house" credit cards. John Martin's was a major credit card issuer, with their distinctive "orange" credit card facilitating purchases in their stores. The wide availability of credit which was not tied to a particular store gave customers additional freedom to shop in a broader range of stores. Against this background, John Martin's operated in a significantly more challenging business environment. In the early 1980s the publicly listed company was the subject of takeover activity. During this time, at one stage the major shareholder was prominent retailer Solomon Lew. Ultimately, ownership settled in 1985 when the Adelaide Steamship Company controlled David Jones Limited acquired "Johnnies". David Jones continued for some time to operate the John Martin's stores as a separate retail chain, more down market to their David Jones-branded stores. During the mid-1990s, John Martins operated in the face of more aggressive competition, including the continuing rise of discount department stores, and the expansion of local competitor Harris Scarfe (which expanded from its Rundle Mall base into suburban Adelaide locations). Retailing in this era was characterised by frequent "off price" promotions. John Martin's endeavoured to relaunch and counterattack, with a new logo in early 1994 and publicity of a "price match" policy. However, these measures did not improve sales and profit,  The stores at Elizabeth Shopping Centre (now Elizabeth City Centre) and Westfield Arndale (now Armada Arndale) were sold to Harris Scarfe. Elizabeth became Harris Scarfe in June 1997 and Arndale in November 1997, the Elizabeth store was sold to Myer in 2007 but again became Harris Scarfe in May 2015 after Myer did not renew the lease.