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Rusted "Kobalt" Brand Spades - $9.98 @ Masters West Gosford NSW

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Kobalt D Handle Rusty Square PT Shovel - Clearance $9.98 - Was $28 - As you can see a few pallets . YMMV at other stores…

Masters Disasters #4

More staff than customers in store
…and that's why Masters is Australia's 'about to close down' Hardware Store

Masters Disasters #178
  • Overbuy tons of stock from brands Australian's don't know/understand and charge full RRP.
  • Lose money when no one buys them.
  • Lose more money when they take up too much space and/or spoil and hence a firesale is required.

…and that's why Masters is Australia's 'about to close down' Hardware Store

Related Stores

Masters Home Improvement
Masters Home Improvement

closed Comments

  • +2

    Fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate.

  • yeah…

  • where are those masters disasters from?

  • Did they leave them outside or something?

  • +5

    Kobalt D Handle Rusty Square PT Shovel - Clearance $9.98 - Was $28

    Some slight surface rust and these are a clearance item so the discount is not because of the slight amount of rust.

    More staff than customers in store

    Sure if you go in there in off peak periods just like Bunnings.

    Overbuy tons of stock from brands Australian's don't know/understand and charge full RRP.

    Kobalt is Masters and Lowes own brand just like Bunnings has it's own brands.

    Lose money when no one buys them.

    You mean like a lot of the stock that Bunnings carries but they don't care as they make heaps.

    Lose more money when they take up too much space and/or spoil and hence a firesale is required.

    A few pallets of slightly rusted steel shovels is hardly spoilt.

    and that's why Masters is Australia's 'about to close down' Hardware Store

    You seem happy about this, guess it says something about you and/or your employer/investment.

    • Given the comments generated here, some people obviously can't take a joke or accept other opinions.

      I actually feel sorry for Masters as it was never given a chance by Woolworths. Their whole strategy was to run it like a supermarket, hence one mistake after another.

      • +4

        Exactly, their approach was wrong.
        They expected to throw heaps of money at it and get multiples of those heaps thrown back at them.
        Bunnings took decades to get to where it is now.
        BBC> HardwareHouse> Bunnings.
        If they were not prepared to lose money for a decade before becoming established, they should not have even bothered.
        All this illustrates, is the gimme gimme and damned it, make it yesterday approach of the majority of society, which simply doesn't work!
        Oh and STOP STOCKING CRAPPY CHINESE MADE JUNK BECAUSE OF IT'S MARGINS!
        People want a choice of three grades, premium, every day and discount.
        Note that there is no room for barely legal crap that will fail prematurely.

        • +3

          Exactly. But Woolworths from the start said they were only prepared to lose money for 5 years (at $150mill p.a). That should have rung warning bells for investors.

          Put into context it took Aldi 10 years to record their first profit in Australia (they started here with $750mill in cash too).

    • +1

      Actually each masters store is different.

      West Gosford is one of the stores that is a "leaner not a lifter" in the Masters world

      More staff than customers in most times I have visited.

      When picking up a click and collect, 20% of the time, it isn't available. Even though the online system says it is. I am still waiting a week later for notification for a refund, on a cancelled order, that they cancelled 2 weeks ago. It will be interesting how long it takes after they notify me of the refund.

      Previously I waited 2 months for them to order an air conditioner to be told its discontinued, and yes it was still on the online system as being available. (so they "lost" 2 the one allocated to me and the one still on the system)

      • +1

        Masters Disasters #5
        Opening stores next to Bunnings.

    • +2

      Woolworths got what they deserved considering the sheer arrogance that was on display from upper management as they launched Masters and begun to enter the market.
      It's a shame, as more competition (even if its from a duopoly member) is always good but Woolworths assumed that Wesfarmers wouldn't bother fighting back - the end result is the current poor performance of pretty much all the Woolworths Ltd business units.

      The main thing that really ruined Masters was the almost total ignorance (up until the last 12-18 months) of the trade market, which realistically is where Bunnings makes most of its profits.

  • +2

    Hay guise, let's all go and buy them all so we can finally bury Masters.

    • Wait until they've died and just pick 'em up off the ground. :)

  • You seem mad.

  • +1

    Same price as this one at Bunnings, but no rust & it has a metal handle;

    Spear & Jackson White Square Mouth Shovel
    http://www.bunnings.com.au/spear-jackson-white-square-mouth-…

    I think I paid $4.50 a couple years ago for it. It doesn't get much use. Still, I've had no problems.

  • +1

    I prefer Masters service, at least in my Bunnings/Masters area. Staff always helpfull, really trying to help.
    Also, why don't Bunnings want to learn - how hard is it to put paging system to every area, so that I dont have to go searching for staff if I need assistance!

  • Hey mate I went past this store yesterday on my way back to Sydney it was busy I was surprised to see so many people at a masters store and hardly no discounts so they must be doing okay.

  • Gosford? prolly the sea-salt spray. some elbow grease with some steel wool and a spray with some wd40 and you're good. 10 min job.

  • +1

    its not all bad news. Some of their stock is depleting but they're not closing down. They're looking for a buyer.
    We need Masters simply cause of the fact we need competition. They need to keep the rest honest.

    I think Masters is great. It was a breath of fresh air from all the chinese crap bunnings is offloading to us. Masters has some made in USA, made in Germany products which I quite liked. Titebond glue for instance. Best pva glue around.
    While bunnings had their crappy Selleys shit.

  • •Overbuy tons of stock from brands Australian's don't know/understand and charge full RRP

    Just for the record, "Kobolt" is a Masters house brand, and it's all cheap crap.

    These shovels are worth about $10 new. You can usually get same kind of quality from Kmart or Bunnings for the same kind of price.

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