Masters Home Improvement

Driving home the other night I went past two big hardware stores. Both were open. One seemed to be dark and gloomy, the other light and bright.
Today went into a Masters store for the first time.
Tools - noticed they did not carry Makita at all. Xceed, and Worx brands available as well as their 909 line. Bosch and Hitachi also available.
Timber was well presented and was assisted by a staff member. When I asked for nuts and bolts the staff member at first showed me the rivets. Noticed that there were instructions on how to use various fasteners (dyna bolts, hollow wall anchors, spring toggles etc) and that they could be bought individually or by the box.
At the information counter the staff ignored me for a few minutes before pointing me in the right direction.

Will need additional visits to see if it is worth going to on a regular basis.

Driving past the new Masters in Bibra lake today I noticed the carpark was chokka. I always shirk at the sight of a sign that says "Home improvement centre". With a sign like that that I can tell it's going to just be another "Home Depot" style store with more space devoted to home accessories than anything else so between the crowded car park and the sign I did not stop. I dislike crowds and went on to the Northlake Bunnings (also chokka) where I ended up in a register queue where a person I know (but pretended not to) a couple of customers ahead of me held the queue up for about 15 minutes while she disputed the price of $2 pot plants. ARRRGGGH!
This is why I like to shop at 7 am or pm

I have 2 bitches about Masters, the dressed red oak timber they sell in heaps of sizes except for square stock there's no 50mm or 75mm for table legs etc.
I am doing up a bathroom and was checking out the gyprock prices they had sheets and cornice but no Stud Adhesive or Cornice Cement and tried to sell me tubes of Liquid Nails type stuff, you would think that the Gyprock supplier would have said we better send you all the Glues and gear too, but they probably said Nah! we got this stuff in tubes that will do'em.
Back to the timber i did fill out a Request Form to include square stock in the range about 4 months ago but nothing has changed.
So in the end I still go to the Green Shed because they have all off it .

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Originally Posted by BobL

Driving past the new Masters in Bibra lake today I noticed the carpark was chokka. I always shirk at the sight of a sign that says "Home improvement centre". ... I dislike crowds and went on to the Northlake Bunnings (also chokka) where I ended up in a register queue where a person ... held the queue up for about 15 minutes while she disputed the price of $2 pot plants. ARRRGGGH! :C
This is why I like to shop at 7 am or pm

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You should've detoured to the Bibra Lake Bunnies on Spearwood Ave, bigger store not as busy. :doh:

That is one thing about Bunnies they have different sized stores, the smaller ones don't carry some of the product lines. So you have to go out of your way to the bigger store!! :~

your lucky you have a choice , the big green shed ran all the miter 10's out of town , they then closed down 2 green sheds and built a new one in the middle ? , and now there selection of tools has 1/4 ed ,( dropped the good brands " sorry were out of stock for months " ) , then west farmers byes them out , and i have noticed the cue's to pay have 10 folded ??? they need a"big blue twin " to kick there #### into shape

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Originally Posted by SawDustSniffer

your lucky you have a choice , the big green shed ran all the miter 10's out of town , they then closed down 2 green sheds and built a new one in the middle ? , and now there selection of tools has 1/4 ed ,( dropped the good brands " sorry were out of stock for months " ) , then west farmers byes them out , and i have noticed the cue's to pay have 10 folded ??? they need a"big blue twin " to kick there #### into shape

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That is the reality of someone new coming to town, here in Mackay the Masters complex is underway but they will have to share the developement with Bunnings, side by side [that will test them both] Mitre10 will suffer as will Porters and the other local hardware outlets.
I, for one will not support Masters, I will support an Australian hardware company first. Woolworths has become about as Australian as one of those boat people, they're bringing in Lowes from America to set up each store so I hope it comes back to bite them.
Woolworths, Lowe's pay $12 million set-up costs

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Originally Posted by Breezy

You should've detoured to the Bibra Lake Bunnies on Spearwood Ave, bigger store not as busy. :doh:

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Yeah I go to that one sometimes when I at the milling yard.

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That is one thing about Bunnies they have different sized stores, the smaller ones don't carry some of the product lines. So you have to go out of your way to the bigger store!! :~

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My closest is the minuscule South Perth Bunnings which has next to bugger all in it. I use dot know a couple of the staff there fairly well and they also had "Rodger" the best paint guy I have run across anywhere but these days the staff all look about 15 to me.

My wife sent me a message before saying it looks like the new Masters near the airport in Canberra is open:2tsup:

If you're looking for me this weekend, guess where I will be:wink:

Got the catalog in the mail. What is this Red oak and poplar? is the US side taking over everything? or have they re-branded meranti and tassie oak?

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Originally Posted by titchtheclown

Got the catalog in the mail. What is this Red oak and poplar? is the US side taking over everything? or have they re-branded meranti and tassie oak?

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Pink and white. But not in a coconut ice way. And not rebranded Aussie timbers. I was told by a staffer at Masters that they are sourced from Canadian mills. Presumably ones that are used by Lowes.

There are some recent threads were poplar esp. the Masters stuff is discussed.

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Originally Posted by titchtheclown

Got the catalog in the mail. What is this Red oak and poplar? is the US side taking over everything? or have they re-branded meranti and tassie oak?

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I used a piece of this Red Oak to repair a bench seat. It is a kiln dried hard wood. The edges were a sharp 90 degrees. I rounded the edges using a rounding bit in the router. The timber was OK to machine.
What I did notice was that the timber was sorted in size and length - neatly. At one other big chain hardware store you often need to move several boards to get the length you want and often the timber is warped, or full of knots.
Twice recently I have required 120 x 19 pine and a small hardware store near me has had a suitable length and almost clear piece for me. The second time they even had 110 x 19 which was the size I was going to rip the 120 to anyway. So by shopping local I saved at least 3/4 hour and probably paid no more than at the big two.

I have been to Masters a few times now. The first time I went there the staff had no idea. In time they will improve you have to remember that the big green shed has been around a long time. I still go to the green shed for small things but do go out of my way for larger buys. BTW there are a few exstaff members from green shed working at the local Masters.
David

Went in one for the first time yesterday. (Knox opposite Bunnings). On the whole I was impressed. They have a mixture of cheap and some good quality tools - not too many stores sell Stahwille and Crescent these days. The wood was pretty good too, looked as if it had been selected for straightness and lack of knots!
The clincher for me was titebond, I, II and III, very very reasonable and in a variety of sizes. Not many people seemed to be leaving empty handed.
Cheers,
Jim