By ANEEKA SIMONIS
Workers hit as Woolworths tries to repair balance sheet…
THE impending closure of Masters Home Improvement store in Pakenham will see more than 100 employees turfed out of a job.
It is the second major hardware store to leave Pakenham in the past few months following the mid-year closure of the Hardy’s Mitre 10 store, further monopolising Bunnings as the go-to for home and garden improvements.
The Pakenham store is one of the company’s 63 outlets across the country that are due to close.
The store, which employs 110 staff, has been open for two years and was the 16th to open in Victoria.
Masters owner Woolworths issued a statement on Monday 18 January saying that it would take several months for its joint-venture partner to exercise its option to sell its stake in the business to Woolworths.
The joint-venture partners had been under shareholder pressure to wind up the business following ongoing losses.
The statement said that it would take at least two months to wind up the financial arrangements and following this a potential sale process or other exit process would take additional time.
“The business will continue to trade through this period. Our top priority is to do the right thing by all stakeholders.”
Residents empathised with the dozens of hardware workers that will now have to search for a new job.
“Sad for the people that work there,” wrote Carol on the Gazette’s Facebook page.
However, others took the opportunity to make suggestions for appropriate retailers to take over the space.
Kmart was a hot favourite, a sentiment echoed by more than 3000 people supporting an online campaign for the store to develop in Pakenham.
Hardy’s Mitre 10 in Pakenham shut its store in August last year.
The iconic local store operated in the area for more than 60 years.
It employed 80 staff, some believed to have taken up employment at the soon-to-be-closed Masters chain.
The Hardy’s site, located on the corner of Bald Hill Road and Racecourse Road, was taken over by hardware giant Bunnings.
