Page 46 - HW February 2020

global eyes
Bunnings plans DIY-hotel combo for Victoria
It’s been reported that Bunnings
has particularly inventive plans for a proposed new store for Doncaster in Melbourne.
Originally planned to include apartments above the store, it’s now proposed that a 180+ room Mercure hotel sit atop the 11,000m2 Bunnings store.
Work on Bunnings Doncaster is set
to start within weeks as the homewares giant finalises a contract to build a mega hardware and apartment complex next to Westfield.
Of course this isn’t the first time Bunnings has gone ahead with an unusual mixed use property – take the Newstead development in Brisbane whose street frontage contains six separate mixed use tenancies consisting of retail and/or office space with two floors of DIY above.
www.bunnings.com.au
Screwfix seeks more success in Ireland
Not content with its already more than 650-strong store network, Kingfisher Group’s super-successful trade arm Screwfix
is branching out into bricks & mortar in Ireland.
Backing up its already successful online-only business, the first stores opened last month with two in Dublin and one in Waterford.
Each store will stock 10,000 products, from power tools and workwear to heating & electrical with 24,000 products available to order online and by phone for delivery and/or in-store collection.
Screwfix believes there’s potential for up to 40 Irish stores in time. The initiative may of course also be Brexit-related...
www.screwfix.ie
Metcash reveals
Mark Laidlaw replacement
LAST MONTH, METCASH announced that Mark Laidlaw will retire as CEO of its hardware pillar at the end of April.
The forthright “champion of the independents” has spent 10 years in the role, having joined Metcash in 2010 following the acquisition of Mitre 10 Australia in 2010.
The star speaker at the 2013 ITM conference in Sydney, at the time we found Mark Laidlaw quick to distance Metcash’s approach with that of his corporate competition – the “big gorillas” he called them.
When Metcash acquired 50.1% of Mitre 10 in Australia the brand was, to use the outgoing CEO’s words, “sick and sorry”. Likening getting the widespread 420-strong cooperative to sign off on
a new direction to herding cats, Mark Laidlaw’s first task was to try and get 420 stores thinking alike, but without losing any of their entrepreneurial spirit.
Today, Metcash Group CEO, Jeff Adams, says: “As CEO, Mark has
been instrumental in the growth of
our Hardware business, including the successful acquisition of Home Timber & Hardware in 2016 and the subsequent formation of the Independent Hardware Group (IHG). We thank Mark for his significant contribution and wish him well for the future.”
Metcash simultaneously announced that its current General Manager of Merchandising, Annette Welsh, would be Mark Laidlaw’s successor, effective 1 May.
The incoming CEO brings with her 30+ years’ experience globally across retail, wholesale and logistics including senior management positions with Marks & Spencer in the UK and Asia Pacific and IBM.
Metcash’s Hardware GM Merch for the last four years, prior to which she was GM Ops, Annette also joined Metcash
in 2010.
The new CEO’s responsibilities will include navigating the currently troubled Australian construction market.
In its FY2020 first half numbers (to end October 2019), announced in early December, Metcash’s hardware sales
fell by 4.2% to AU$1.04 billion while the pillar’s EBIT also fell by 1.3% to AU$37.3 million, both “mainly reflecting the impact of the slowdown in construction activity on trade sales”.
In terms of an outlook, which may
or may not positively impact its second half, the company says: “The market fundamentals for Hardware over the medium to longer term remain positive with construction activity expected to be underpinned by population growth and an undersupply of housing.”
44 NZHJ | FEBRUARY 2020
MORE AT www.hardwarejournal.co.nz