By Sarah Falson
WINDSOR: A former Retravision store in Sydney’s western suburb of Windsor re-opened as Harvey Norman Windsor on Friday, after 30 years under the Retravision banner, representing the latest defection to the publicly listed retailer.
A document sent to suppliers by Harvey Norman director, electrical, David Ackery alerted Harvey Norman’s suppliers that the store is now trading, under proprietor Peter Keegan.
The store has been trading as Brian Keegan’s Electrical since 1964 – a family-owned business operated by Peter Keegan’s father, which turned to Retravision thirty years ago.
The store, located on the suburb’s main shopping strip – George Street – will be neighboured soon by a Target superstore and a new shopping centre, all three of which will hold grand opening sales when the latter two open in the first week of March.
“We turned to Harvey’s because Retravision put themselves into difficulty. We were approached by Harvey’s in November last year, to become one of their franchised dealers, but decided to hold off until after Christmas in order to run down our existing stock,” Keegan told Current.com.au
The store’s 900 square metre showroom and 200 square metre warehouse have remained unchanged throughout the changeover, mirroring a press release posted in Windsor’s local newspaper – the Hawkesbury Gazette – declaring that “the name has changed but the faces remain the same”.
“Becoming a Harvey Norman store sounded attractive, as though it would make lives easier for us,” Keegan told Current.com.au
According to Keegan, the store is not yet fully stocked, but once it is trading at its full capacity it will be a specialty IT superstore.
“We’ve got a lot more scope, brand-wise, now than we did with Retravision. One of the things we were restricted with was computers,” said Keegan.
Keegan also said that one of his stipulations when defecting to Harvey Norman was that his staff remains the same.
“Some of my guys have been working here for 20 years,” he said.