Reduced retail store traffic resulting in lower video sales pushed down fiscal third-quarter sales at Harvey Electronics by 10.2 percent, coming in at $9 million, compared with about $10 million in the year-ago period. Comp-store sales for the quarter, ended July 30, dropped about $1.2 million, or 11.6 percent.
The high-end, regional specialty chain, which emphasizes its custom-installation business, said video sales have declined as a result of reduced DLP, CRT and DVD sales, and to a lesser extent, from price compression, an overall 2 percent reduction of flat-panel unit sales and certain product shortages.
Franklin Karp, president/CEO, said, “Consumers are now more price sensitive relating to their flat-panel purchase.” Although Harvey reported declines in retail store traffic, it said its custom installation business has remained strong in both overall dollars and as a percentage of net sales.
Custom installation sales, including equipment and labor accounted for 62.5 percent of net sales for the first nine months of the fiscal year, compared with 59 percent year-on-year. Karp said Harvey expects to report a loss for the third quarter and the nine months in a later filing. For the nine months, net sales decreased 6 percent to $30.8 million, while comp-store sales dropped 6.6 percent, or $2.2 million.
