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Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based retailer of electrical, computer, furniture, entertainment and bedding goods. It is a franchise〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Company Profile )〕 and the main brand is owned by Harvey Norman Holdings Limited. There are more than 230 Harvey Norman stores in Australia,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Harvey Norman Store Finder )〕 New Zealand,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Store Locations & Hours )〕 Slovenia,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Harvey Norman )〕 Ireland,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Store Locations & Hours )〕 Northern Ireland, Malaysia, Croatia and Singapore〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Store Locations )〕 altogether. Harvey Norman Holdings Limited is owner of several other Australian retail chains such as Domayne, Space Furniture, Ariston Appliances and Joyce Mayne.〔 ==History== Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman opened their first store in 1961, which specialised in electrical goods and appliances. Harvey and Norman had first met when both were working as door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen.〔 The store's success prompted Harvey and Norman to expand the business and conduct talks with retailer Keith Lord, who sought to expand his own retail group. They could not settle on a name for the new business, with Harvey and Lord reluctant to take on the other's name. They eventually decided to retain Norman's name and that of its first store manager, Peter Ross. This spawned the retail chain Norman Ross.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd - Company History )〕 Norman Ross became one of the largest appliance retail chains and by 1979 controlled 42 stores with sales exceeding A$240 million.〔 In the early 1980s, Alan Bond and Grace Bros. sought to acquire the chain, spawning a bidding war that saw Grace Bros incorporate the chain in 1982. Three weeks later however, a determined Alan Bond successfully convinced the Grace Bros. director Michael Grace to sell the chain to Bond. Shortly after, Harvey and Norman were given notice and redundancy package of six months pay. Reasons for their sacking were not publicised, although Harvey later told ''The Daily Telegraph'': Norman Ross later went into liquidation in 1992.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Harvey looks to bring back Norman Ross brand in NZ )〕 In October 1982, Harvey and Norman purchased a new shopping centre in outer Sydney suburb Auburn for A$3 million, and opened the first Harvey Norman store. The enterprise was intended to be a single store but its success led to the opening of others. Harvey Norman Holdings Limited was listed on the Australian stock market on 3 September 1987. In the early 1990s, Harvey Norman adopted the superstore format then successful in the United States and entered the computer and furniture markets. The first computer superstore was opened at Bennetts Green, Newcastle in late 1993 with much fanfare. This was later followed by the opening several weeks later with a larger superstore at Auburn (Sydney, NSW). Many stores later expanded their computer sections. Much support was provided by distributors such as Merisel, Dataflow, Tech Pacific, and Marketing Results. Extra support and funding was supplied by vendors (supplied by these distributors) such as Microsoft, Corel, Symantec, WordPerfect, etc. Staff also received weekly training from companies on a constant basis in order to provide better product knowledge (than similar larger retailers). Harvey Norman also sold Apple Computer products for several years, until Apple decided in the late 1990s to no longer supply Harvey Norman. Apple returned in 2004 with the iPod range, which later expanded into iPads, iPhones, iMacs etc. The launch of Windows 95 was a huge success with a few Sydney stores opening at midnight. This came with a bonus pack. Some regional areas opened at 6 AM. This was also the realisation that the CD was taking over. Demand for the CD version was under-estimated. The bonus back featured Harvard Graphics on CD, as well as an introductory Internet offer from OzEmail. A Norman Ross store was opened at Bennetts Green in 1995, with the purpose of being a clearance centre. This had mixed results, and was closed within 12 months. This however paved the way for the Bennetts Green store to expand into larger premises in 1996, where the store operates today. Part of the relocation was a dedicated educational centre, named Kidscape. Specialist employees were employed from Dataflow, to provide advice to parents on which software was best for their child. Kidscape was installed at a number of stores; however, it was disbanded at a number of stores, within two years. A number of stores also opened early for the Windows 98 launch. This included a number of offers (including an SPC CD with Harvard Graphics, Quicken etc.). Other products were promoted at $98, such as modems, printers etc. Harvey Norman has relied on 'bricks & mortar' as its strength. When suppliers (such as Compaq and IBM) started supplying direct, Harvey Norman stopped selling those products in-store. After Compaq later stopped selling direct, Harvey Norman returned to selling Compaq PC products. Harvey Norman growth came organically until it acquired Joyce Mayne in 1998. A number of electrical stores in Western Australia, some of which were owned by Wesfarmers, were purchased. Further acquisitions followed and by 2000 the chain had 100 stores. In 2006, Retravision was struggling, and a number of Retravision stores were acquired by Harvey Norman. These were later converted to either Harvey Norman or Joyce Mayne stores. The stores that were not successful were closed down. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harvey Norman」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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