go harvey go

Gerry Harvey is an icon of Australian retail, a friend of John Singleton and a successful breeder of thoroughbreds. he's far more successful than I'll ever be. But (IMO) he should retire to his stud farm and let new blood run his retail business. I doubt i have been into a HVN store for several years. What i know about the company has been in the main gleened from HC posts. Many months ago an exceptionally long thread evolved here on HC. It was filled with anecdotes from former HVN employees and franchisees. One could still dig it out if interested.

The theme of the thread was disenchantment with HVN management style and how low the morale of staff has become. It seems orders come from Gerry and his wife who surround themselves with 'yes-men'. Alternative confronting opinions are not even tolerated let alone considered. Hence, the JBH's of the retail world have hammered HVN's mkt share. Further atrocious blunders were entering Ireland at exactly the wrong time (Harvey blamed poor sales there on the potato famine) and into Slovenia... a country with a culture far removed from ours. Gerry then bought the Clive Peters and Hart chains thinking these bankrupt buisnesses were 'cheap'. It's been an unmitigated disaster but no apology to shareholders is pofferred,no concession that Directors have made wrong call after wrong call. Instead everyone is urged to 'work-harder', RBA told to cut interest rates, get online trading restricted etc etc. Nobody it seems and especially Gerry, is prepared to look in the mirror.

Can HVN recover? IMO it can't unless a completely new approach is installed. That requires and brand new team in charge as Gerry et al are too entrenched to change their opinions re retail. Now Roger Montgomery says he's considering a substantial downgrade in HVN IV which he currently has at 2.00. Better value/hope elsewhere. Avoid.