Albury Haberechts to leave Retravision for Betta life after 21 years

By James Wells

ALBURY: After three generations working in the business over 53 years, eight location changes and 21 years with Retravision, the Haberechts of Albury will join Betta Electrical on 1 April.

Geoff Haberecht and his son Scott have made the decision to move to another buying group after examining several options available to the business.

After the collapse of its buying group – Retravision NSW in October last year, the Haberechts decided to move their 2,000 square metre store with 14 full time staff from Retravision to Betta Electrical ahead of other retail groups including Narta’s Bing Lee and Bi-Rite Electrical as well as Harvey Norman or Joyce Mayne.

Geoff Haberecht, who has been store manager of Albury Retravision for the last 21 years after taking over the business from his father Don, has decided to pass on the business to his son Scott in June this year and take on the less strategic role of franchisee.

“This is part of the succession plan for our business,” Scott Haberecht told Current.com.au

Under the agreement, the Haberecht family owns the rights to Betta Electrical for both Albury in New South Wales as well as Wodonga in Victoria just a few kilometres away over the border.

"We will not be opening a store in Wodonga at this time,” Geoff said.

For 13 years, Scott and Geoff ran two separate Retravision stores in Albury. The two stores were merged in mid-2004 to create a superstore with a fully-functioning kitchen including displays from Miele, De’Longhi, Fisher & Paykel and Electrolux complemented by dedicated computer and digital imaging departments.

Scott Haberecht said that by joining Betta Electrical, the access to new brands such as LG Electronics will be a positive for his business.

“We see it as a benefit for the business as we missed out on LG in Retravision. In the marketplace LG is generally within the top 3 product categories it operates in," Scott said.

“We are still going to have an emphasis on specialist lines – including cooking, television and audio. That focus will continue and we hope that will strengthen as time goes on.

“The change is good for myself, Geoff and the staff as it is something that keeps you on your toes and invigorated within the industry. It is definitely a new challenge and will take our business to the next level.”