Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey is seeing opportunity in the economy as many businesses hit the wall and tens of thousands of people lose their jobs.
Mr Harvey told The Land he doesn't understand why some of the social restrictions (such as closing pubs and clubs) to control the spread of coronavirus have been placed on country communities, where there is little if no cases of COVID-19.
He's had to fight to keep his shops open in the light of social isolation rules and has seen Harvey Norman shops forced to close overseas, including in New Zealand, and in far off places such as Slovenia and Malaysia - with no compensation from governments.
His stores remain open in Australia, although if governments move to stage four coronavirus restrictions he will have to make a case for what he sells as being essential - a case that would seem very strong considering it includes computers, whitegoods and home entertainment.
His stores have been hit by panic buying of freezers, so much so, he says there's none left in Australia. He said there was a shipment of freezers heading to Hobart, but no new freezers would arrive in Australia for at least three or four weeks. "If I had 5000 I'd sell them in a day," he said.
His stores have done a roaring trade mainly in the home entertainment and computer and whitegoods areas as people move to working at home, but bedding and furniture sales are slow.
"You can do well if you are placed in the right part of the economy at the moment," he said.
He said there was little point in ruining the entire economy for the sake of stopping the spread of coronavirus.
"It has been a huge overreaction and has put a lot of people into panic mode. It's a big problem the government and bureaucrats have run into, how do you control this thing without undermining the economy ?But I mean how do people live if they have no money?.
"I mean we have a store in Cobar and you couldn't get more isolated, why would you want to close a shop, club or pub there?
"A lot of these rules are being made by city people who know nothing about country people. I reckon at least 50 per cent of people in Sydney wouldn't know the difference between a sheep and a goat."
Mr Harvey started his business life in the country and always uses simple philosophies to inspire his business decisions.
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
