Bunnings UK stores launch: Is this a game changer?
DO POMS love a sausage sizzle?
That’s the question on everyone’s tomato sauce-stained lips as the first Bunnings Warehouse store in the UK opens its doors on Thursday in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
“No one in the UK knows what a sausage sizzle is,” according to news.com.au journalist Benedict Brook. “Putting a sausage in between two slices of white bread? A more British thing to do would be a chip butty — hot chips in bread.”
No thanks, Benedict. That sounds disgusting.
The pilot store is the first converted Homebase location to open, with Wesfarmers looking to take on key rival Kingfisher — which owns market leader B&Q — in the $63 billion (£38 billion) home improvement and garden market.
Wesfarmers bought the 270 Homebase stores last year for around $700 million, although Morgan Stanley puts the total cost at nearly $4 billion when taking into account $847 million for rebranding and $2.5 billion in lease commitments.
In December, Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder said the sudden departure of long-time Bunnings boss John Gillam would not interrupt the hardware giant’s push into Britain.
Bunnings Australia and New Zealand managing director Mike Schneider and Bunnings UK and Ireland head Peter Davis now report directly to Mr Goyder.
In a statement, the company said it planned to invest up to $831 million (£500 million) rolling out the Bunnings Warehouse format in the UK and Ireland over the next three years.
Wesfarmers says it is on track to open at least four pilot stores by June, creating 120 jobs. The St Albans store is 67,000 square feet and employs 68 people, almost double the staff of the previous Homebase store.
The store stocks 30,000 products — a 40 per cent increase on Homebase — and features a 19,000 square feet garden centre and DIY workshop areas.
“A third of team members are aged over 50, and include former plumbers, painters, electricians and landscape gardeners, as well as other trades people, who, after extensive training, are perfectly placed to offer customers a helping hand and expert advice on any home or garden project,” Wesfarmers said in a release.
Mr Davis will celebrate the opening, Thursday night Australian time, by cooking breakfast for team members at the hardware chain’s signature sausage sizzle.
“It’s great to be able to give people a taste of what Bunnings is all about,” he said in a statement. “Our policy is to offer customers the lowest prices, the widest range and best service, and hopefully our first pilot store demonstrates that.
“I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to everybody who helped get us to this momentous day. A second Bunnings Warehouse store in Hatfield Road, St Albans will open in April and we are on track to have at least four pilots up and running by the summer. We are laying strong foundations on which to build the Bunnings Warehouse business in the UK and Ireland for generations to come.”
Store manager Andy Kenwrick said the store transformation had taken three months. “[The team] have had more than 3000 hours training on everything from timber and key cutting to product knowledge and health and safety,” he said.
“We’ve even trained our own baristas for the cafe. Now we just can’t wait to get started.”
Retail analyst Geoff Dart said it was too early to say whether the UK expansion would be a success, but that Bunnings had a good track record of converting businesses since it first expanded into the East Coast with the acquisition Victorian stores McEwans and South Australian stores Harry’s & Lloyds in the early ‘90s.
“Then in 2000 came Howard Smith in Australia and Benchmark in New Zealand, [which] was similar to Homebase. It was a marginal, largely trade business, struggling, pretty well neglected. But after two or three years they gradually turned it around,” Mr Dart said.
“It took the market in New Zealand a while to adjust to the new entry in the marketplace, but now the growth there is stronger than in Australia, and it’s well placed to overtake Mitre 10 as the market leader.”
Mr Dart said Bunnings had proved it could assess a market and bring the right team on board. He said the decision to bring on former Masters boss Matt Tyson, who was previously from Kingfisher, showed Bunnings was “able to engage with people on the other side of the fence who are market or geography experts”.
“I still have to say we don’t know, but they’re going to give it a red hot go. I think it’s great for an Australian business to move offshore.”
ncG1vNJzZmimlazAb6%2FOpmWarV%2Bbtq%2BtzZycaJqlqLavsdKsZqudpJa2rXvEsZqirJmjtG66xLCqZp6fp3q0rdSsmKCdXZuur7%2BMm6ynppmjtLR5zqmcp6tdm7azv9NmrKRlo6m8s7GMsKCtoF2orra%2FwKCcZquZr8etsY6nnLCrXajBsL7YaJxxnmabr6StkJtvbJlomoNzgI9smWprlm2xo4WUcJxy