Masters store construction comes to a halt.
The $14 million warehouse built for Masters on NSW’s south coast would have created 180 jobs but the site has been forced to close before its opening.
Local mayor and former federal Liberal MP for Gilmore Joanna Gash (pictured) said the decision was a “huge blow”.
“It’s significant to our area. We were happy to see it all happen because it was a huge project, which was going to employ a lot of young people,” Gash told The Australian.
“I am just hoping against hope that some people purchase it and do something with it,” she said.
A Masters spokeswoman confirmed the Nowra store would not open, but said the company was “committed to doing the right thing by our landlords and developers”.
“We will be dealing with sites where construction is planned or under way on a case-by-case basis.”
Meanwhile, Masters hosted a grand opening for its Penrith store, in Sydney’s west, on January 16, just two days before the announcement from Woolworths. The store employed approximately 130 people.
Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown said a potential closure after such a short time was extremely disappointing. She pointed to the huge catchment area and the strong population growth in the Penrith area as a big magnet for a hardware store operator.
“Should the Masters store close, I would hope an astute operator could see the benefit of being part of the regional city of Penrith, which currently has an economic catchment people,” McKeown said.
ARA in positive spirit
Australian Retailers Association executive director, Russell Zimmerman believes the Masters sites would be valuable to other businesses because retail sales figures are improving.
Zimmerman has reportedly said that Bunnings was likely to pick up Masters stores in locations where they had not yet set up.
“There are a lot of players who could be interested, Ikea, Costco and Bunnings if they are on sites where they are not set up,” he said.