By James Wells
COBAR: The former chairman of Retravision NSW, Michael Doumani, has closed his store at Cobar in western New South Wales today for a stocktake and will re-open his store branded Harvey Norman AV/IT Superstore Cobar on Monday.
A statement sent to suppliers this morning from Harvey Norman chief operating officer, John Slack-Smith, confirmed the 27 Marshall Street store is scheduled to open on Monday 20 November.
“To our valued Business Partner, this letter is to inform you of the proposed Harvey Norman store opening in Cobar, NSW.”
Doumani told Current.com.au that under the arrangement, Harvey Norman has purchased the stock, fittings and fixtures in the store as well as plant and equipment. A new information technology system will be installed over the weekend.
“The shell of the building is the only thing they don’t own – they can buy it off me if they want,” Doumani said.
Even though he is a sole franchisee, Doumani owns the 600 square metre building housing the store and has confirmed he will be the landlord for the business.
“This is an unusual situation for Harvey Norman, as normally when they come to a site, a third party owns it.”
Doumani said that he has been impressed with the efficient transition for the business.
“It has been two and a half weeks since first contact – that is amazing. The vital part has been getting supply. We have been dealing with suppliers in cash and in some cases we are waiting a week. There are some suppliers out there that are not set up for cash transactions, just like we are as this is a high volume, low margin business.
“Harvey Norman have been very accommodating. They have made life a lot easier and provided us with tremendous support after all the traumas we have been through in the last few months.”
Doumani officially left the Retravision NSW group on Tuesday and has since sold stock relating to a music business operated within the former Retravision store to a business in the local community.
Doumani would not comment on the departure of another Retravision NSW chairman, Paul Murphy, to Harvey Norman.
“My focus at the moment is on nothing else other than the transition of the store,” he said.