Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey has reportedly confirmed his interest in the four Move airport stores, which continue to trade while Dick Smith’s stores and 10 non-airport Move stores close down. However, when Appliance Retailer contacted receivers, Ferrier Hodgson, they did not wish to disclose any details or confirm Harvey’s intentions.
“Every time I’ve looked at an airport business I’ve always run away because the rents and overheads are horrendous,” Harvey said. “It’s not generally the sort of place I’d like to be, but you have to look.
“At this stage we will just have to figure out how they make money. They turn over a lot but if they don’t make any money it’s not worth it,” he said.
Harvey said Harvey Norman was placed to take over the Move airport shops because it was more upmarket than most of its competitors and sold premium brands and products.
“We have a huge market share in that high priced category,” he said.
Last week, Harvey also reportedly confirmed his interest in several Masters stores.
“They are very big sites with some in difficult places, and a lot are where we have existing stores, but the cost of converting them to Harvey Norman is not that expensive,” he said.
This story first appeared in Appliance Retailer.