Gerry Harvey Quotes

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Gerry Harvey

Profession : Businessman

Birth : September 18, 1939

Kids go to school; we develop them at school. We develop them later on in the workplace so that we get better quality individuals, so that we get less people that are dependent or get into problems.

Gerry Harvey

I had a trial run with Norman Ross for 21 years, from '61 to '82. I didn't have it in mind to open a chain like Harvey Norman. I opened one shop, but then the next thing you know, I've got another shop and then another shop.

Gerry Harvey

I think the main thing you measure your success by is what you do in comparison to your opposition. If you're in an industry where you're the leader, then you're performing very well.

Gerry Harvey

I'm probably not your typical business person in many ways. I don't wear a suit. I don't carry a briefcase. I don't wear a tie. I'm fairly casual. I haven't got a big office, and it's in a very ordinary part of town. I'd much prefer to downplay than impress.

Gerry Harvey

I get a lot of comments from people that I'm just an ordinary bloke. They immediately feel they have a closer relationship with you; they relate to you.

Gerry Harvey

For me, anyone who is over 80, I generally sit down and have a chat to because he is over 80, and he is going OK.

Gerry Harvey

The people I know who have retired, so many of them lose interest and die; they just become nobodies overnight.

Gerry Harvey

I'm hoping there'll be, if not a boom, then a big pick-up in housing because if that happens, then it will employ a lot of people, and the domino effect will go through the community, and it will help everyone.

Gerry Harvey

I know people like myself where we've got resorts, or we're in the hospitality business, and we just can't make money because you're paying someone minimum $42 per hour or something on a Sunday.

Gerry Harvey

As a retailer, we want everyone out there to earn more money, but then if you're running a business, and we can't make money because the wages are too high, that's a problem.

Gerry Harvey

The internet thing is what I have the greatest problem with. I don't know if anyone in the media gets the internet thing and Harvey Norman. I think they have some strange interpretation of it that bears no resemblance to what actually happens.

Gerry Harvey

Even if you sell the same number of plasma televisions - if you are selling them for 20 or 30 or 40 per cent of the original price, your revenue goes down, and the profit goes with it.

Gerry Harvey

People are out there saying we have to devalue our properties because of the Internet, but it hasn't even come into play!

Gerry Harvey

I am a commonsense sort of a person, and I don't get carried away with emotion and fears.

Gerry Harvey

I've given away tens of millions of dollars over the years - probably to almost every charity in Australia.

Gerry Harvey

Importantly, I still give money to homeless people - and all other charities.

Gerry Harvey

What I think is that we should be helping people so they can reach an even greater potential.

Gerry Harvey

I'll be amazed in my lifetime if my business gets to being 5 per cent online.

Gerry Harvey

The cost to do business in Australia is higher, and the lack of scale is a part of that - Australia is a very small market compared to the U.S.

Gerry Harvey

If I think something is right, I'll fight for it - always have. If it's wrong or I've been proved wrong, I'll walk away, and I'll apologise.

Gerry Harvey