Masters no more

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

LOOGXERRY! All I have is Home Hardware, and no local specialists - if you think Bunnings are useless.......

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You have my absolute sympathy FenceFurniture! But believe me when there is no effective competition Bunnings are absolutely terrible. As stated by others, getting to the checkout to hand over your hard earned is more often than not the most painful part of the process - no checkouts open, all business conducted at the returns counter, queue a mile long and all the other staff wandering around like farts in a bottle. The only station that you can guarantee will be manned at Bunnings is the anti-theft, sorry, meet and greet, at the front of the store.

Having quite a number of family in the mountains between Springwood and Blackheath I can certainly understand your frustration though. If a Bunnings did open at Katoomba it would more than likely wipe out your Home Hardware in pretty short order and you would be back to square one, albeit with a larger range of products.

I was at Masters again today to buy a couple of Bessey Clamps, impressive seeing cars in the carpark on such a damp day and a good number of folk inside.
Didn't bother with anything else as I just wanted to get home BUT did notice a "visitor" adding "Closing Down" & "Going Out of Business" signage everywhere....

It's a crying shame that Bunnings only lifted there game once competition was knocking....the old BBC was half decent in comparison, IMHO......
We need competition and diversity in all industries especially hardware.....

Thankfully the Internet has helped with market diversity - you are now no longer restricted to shops within x miles radius of home or work; but sometimes you just want to walk into a shop with a bolt and try out a bunch of nuts to make sure you get the right one, or get a feel for the ergonomics of a power tool before buying. If I'd had the opportunity to play with my Triton TRA001 before I bought it (online) I may not have got it, it feels too top heavy with the handles up high. Or screwdrivers, or trying to hack together some weird contraption from PVC pipe, dowel, aluminium bar and irrigation pipe ... as I've spent hours in Bunnings doing.

I called in the Masters at West Gosford this morning. The car park was full and the traffic was in gridlock along Manns Road. I could see nothing under 10% off and a lot of people wandering about with nothing in their hands. I wanted to get a 5ltr bottle of Titebond, sold out of course. :p

TT

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Originally Posted by crowie

impressive seeing cars in the carpark on such a damp day and a good number of folk inside.

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But that's the problem Peter - lot's of cars, lots of people - empty handed. Have a look at the video in the news article you sent me. The number of people coming out with a trolley (or a bag) is a joke.

Lot's of cars driving past though......

I went again yesterday to get the other stuff I should have purchased on Monday (DOH!). 10% off stuff I have an immediate need for is ok. There were stacks more people there but funnily enough I could walk straight up to a cash register, even though there were only 2-3 open......

Went in the Hawthorn store today. I saw a couple of people holding closing down sale sign at the freeway exit. In side the store it was busy, but it wasn't packed like a real closing down sale though. Saw a can of Bulls eye Shellac that was made in 2016 Feb (After I read an article on how to decode the Zinsser manufacture coding) so I bought that and a few other things that is nice to have like a Bessey clamp, a japanese pull saw blade and a Kobalt plane blade. I notice on the receipts that trade discount no longer applies. Agree that I've seen nobody buying up big while I was there.

A family member works there now to fire all the staff. They have 800mil worth of stock theyre looking to sell for 600mill.

So dont expect huge discounts along the whole stock range.

One stores usually turns over 300k a week and is over 1mill already. So the stock is going its just not crazy cheap yet.

Also there is no defined end date. Its just when each store clears enough stock to close. Them the stock moves to one of the busier stores.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Bebbo

A family member works there now to fire all the staff. They have 800mil worth of stock theyre looking to sell for 600mill.

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Ha! Good luck with that.

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Originally Posted by Bebbo

Then the stock moves to one of the busier stores.

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I didn't know there were any....

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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

I didn't know there were any....

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Hahaha apparently so

The clan and I passed a Masters on the way to Sunday brunch today, and on all the corners they had young staff standing holding a shutting down sale sign.

The poor buggers looked so morose, and while a lot of times in jobs you have to do things you may not enjoy or like, I thought it was particularly distasteful and demeaning to the staff especially given the circumstances.

Just really put me off even considering going to Masters for anything!

cheers, Ian

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Originally Posted by aarggh

The clan and I passed a Masters on the way to Sunday brunch today, and on all the corners they had young staff standing holding a shutting down sale sign.

The poor buggers looked so morose, and while a lot of times in jobs you have to do things you may not enjoy or like, I thought it was particularly distasteful and demeaning to the staff especially given the circumstances.

Just really put me off even considering going to Masters for anything!

cheers, Ian

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Yes, I think it's the ways of the organisation brought in to close them down. The large banners on the stores saying "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS" don't attract customers as much as "CLEARANCE SALE" would.

But 10% off doesn't qualify as a "CLEARANCE SALE" so they were in fact being truthful.

I wandered around Masters last Saturday. I don't consider 10% really that good a deal unless you are in need of 1000's of dollars worth of equipment. The 30% discount was only on fixings such as screws etc. Bunnings appears to have a better selection for fixings but it seems to me that both stock inferior quality screws etc. I can't tell you how many times I have torn the head off a screw I bought from Bunnings...Zenith brand usually, they must make them out of pig iron. They do stock some quality power tools, but again, 10% is not a great deal unless you are buying some really expensive stuff and are in dire need of such a tool.

As to Masters vs Bunnings - I have always had a love hate relationship - I love hardware, but I hate going to either store. I have only recently discovered Timbecon (also began life in WA like Bunnings) - I got great service there (phone, email and in-store!). I purchased a drill press and the guy threw in some drill bits - you won't get that at Bunnings!

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Originally Posted by Bebbo

They have 800mil worth of stock theyre looking to sell for 600mill.

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Is the 800 million at full retail price? They won't be getting anything like 75% of retail for most stuff. Especially not towards the end when it's all the crap left.

800 million doesn't actually sound that bad compared to dick Smith. They apparently had 100 million in EXTRA stock before they went broke.