Tracy Harvey, managing director of Harveys of Halifax was the voice of independent department stores when featured in an episode of BBC Radio 4’s Trading Spaces series last week (February 8). Tracy emphasised the importance of her store in the local community, highlighting that ecommerce would never replace the experience of visiting the department store (whose departments include Cookshop).
“We trade online; we have to as a modern retailer, but that’s not what we’re fundamentally about,” said Tracy. She stated that providing a “leisure” experience was Harveys’ “key reason for being” was: customers like to meet for a coffee and make new discoveries.
“We going to get through this,” said Tracy, referring to her “grit and determination,” when talking about the pandemic. The store is keeping connected with its customers via social media and, Tracy notes, many are “desperate to see us survive and thrive.” The store is offering Click and Collect during lockdowns.
In her diary recording, Tracy said the store had a “cracking week” in the run up to Christmas, which was needed “in order to pull something back from this year.”
Top: Harveys of Halifax.
