By Patrick Avenell
Gerry Harvey has purchased the shopping centre housing its Cairns Harvey Norman franchisees, at the old brewery site on Spence Street in the CBD.
Harvey Norman paid $16 million for the property, called Hypermart, according to an article in the Cairns Post.
"We think Cairns is a wonderful place,” Gerry Harvey told the Cairns Post. “We have been there for a long time, first at the Raintrees shopping centre before moving to the Hypermart in 1995.
"Overall Cairns is one of the better towns in the country and it's got a good long-term future."
The property has a 162-space car park and has over 15,000 lettable square metres from a total space of 24,000 square metres. Along with Harvey Norman, Freedom Furniture has been a long-term tenant at the site.
Cairns has a population of around 150,000 people and is growing at 3.2 per cent per annum, according to the Cairns Australia website. It’s the fourteenth biggest city in Australia and the fourth biggest in Queensland.
The Harvey Norman store at this location has franchisees for Bedding, Computers, Electrical & Smalls and Furniture.
Considering its size, Cairns is relatively underserviced by the major appliance chains. There is no Retravision or Leading Appliances store in the city, though there is The Good Guys and Kennedys Betta Home Living. There are also three Dick Smith stores in the area.