By Patrick Avenell
MELBOURNE: In a second round of mythbusting this afternoon, JB Hi-Fi CEO Richard Uechtritz has scoffed any talk that the retail group is mad with Sony for opening two new Sony Centres. In fact, the opposite is true, with Uechtritz giving Sony a glowing reference.
A rival news agency recently reported that JB Hi-Fi was going to “bone” Sony in an angry response to the news that two new Sony Centres are being planned, one each for the Gold Coast and Sydney. Uechtritz dismissed this suggestion just as summarily as he denied any interest in buying Clive Peeters.
“We have a fantastic relationship with Sony; through their music, their movies, their electronics, and games,” said Uechtritz.
“We’re the number one Sony account in Australia and we have a fantastic relationship with them, we wouldn’t even consider it [dropping Sony].”
Before Sony becomes too comfortable with the relationship, however, Uechtritz did add a small caveat to this view: two new stores might be fine, but any exponential growth in the numbers might be a different story.
“We’d be disappointed if Sony rolled out a lot more stores than they do now: they’ve got 13 now and they’re only going to 15,” he concluded.
Based on discussions with Sony and Bing Lee, the proprietors of NSW Sony Centres, Current.com.au understands that this relationship will not be souring too soon.