Birmingham | It’s Saturday at the sprawling Merry Hill mega-mall west of Birmingham, in the English Midlands, and the place is heaving with shoppers. All of Britain’s well-known brands and chain stores are present and correct. But a new tenant has just opened its doors, in a 58,000-square-foot (about 5390 square metres) cornerstone spot with a name known to almost no one: Harvey Norman.

Katie Page, the retailer’s chief executive, has spent two decades thinking about an assault on the British market, and two years planning this beachhead. This weekend is the soft opening, before a formal launch this week, and she is striding around the shop floor, a bundle of nervous energy.