While many stores in Bermuda have been suffering from flagging sales during the past year, one electrical equipment and mobile telephone company has been doing so well it has opened a second shop in Hamilton.

Audio Visual Electronics, which is owned by husband and wife team Kevin and Maria Davies, has just opened a store on Washington Street on the site of the former China Doll clothes shop.

Mr. Davies, who is vice president of the company, and his wife president, opened his first shop in 1997 in Cambridge Road in Somerset, but they suffered an arson attack and the place was burnt down.

Undeterred, he moved to Somerset Market Place in 1998 and has been doing a roaring trade since then selling audio-visual equipment including televisions, VCRs, camcorders, mobile telephones, DVDs, stereos and walkmans.

"We had always casually eyed the Hamilton market, and we had been looking for an opportunity to do this, and now seemed like a good time," said Mr. Davies.

And when the store in Washington Street became available, they jumped at the chance.

"I am naturally a cautious man," said Mr. Davies, "But this is a very good opportunity. It is not often retail space becomes available in Hamilton."

He said the time was right for his business because of a lack of a city centre venue to buy BTC mobile telephones and saw an additional market when Stuarts on Reid Street stopped selling Sony televisions and VCRs.

"If you are a BTC customer there is not anywhere right in downtown Hamilton to get a mobile phone. Now you can come in and within say 20 minutes you can buy a phone and have it operating right here from the shop," said Mr. Davies.

He said it offered another alternative to Cellular One and a place where you could buy BTC Mobility services from.

"We could use more space, but it is fine for now. At least 50 percent of our business is mobile phones, and we have a good display area for them," he said.

Now Mr. Davies said he will wait and see how the new store fares before deciding if the company will move ahead with any growth plans, adding that in six months time they may have something online.