By Sarah Falson
SYDNEY: Harvey Norman will continue to expand its Joyce Mayne brand with the 16th such store opening in the Hunter Valley city of Maitland on Friday 16 February.
A statement sent to suppliers by Harvey Norman chief operating officer, John Slack-Smith, has confirmed that the franchisee of the store will be George Popovic. The store will be located at Lot Number 366 on the New England Highway in Rutherford.
Popovic is currently busy in negotiations with suppliers, and told Current.com.au that he hopes his store will be fully stocked by the 16th, when it opens. According to Joyce Mayne’s managing director, Geoff Macdonald, the store will host a grand opening sale from 22 February with LCDs, appliances and DVD players experiencing discounts.
The 2800 square metres showroom will be supported by an off-site warehouse, which is “just down the road,” according to Popovic, who has been working in the appliance retailing industry for six and a half years.
The premises, which was newly-built to host the Joyce Mayne retail outlet, will offer trusted brands at good prices, said Popovic.
“We’ve developed a store where customers can purchase a good quality product at a reasonable price.”
Popovic said that, unlike Harvey Norman and Clive Peeters stores which add a premium on product prices to fund their fashionable, eye-catching store layouts with large aisles and generous floor space, the new Maitland Joyce Mayne store will stack like-products together so customers can compare prices and features to get the best deal possible.
Popovic also mentioned that all the staff members, of which six will be on-site at all times, live locally.