Hardwarehouse

Hardwarehouse
Subsidiary
Industry Retail/Trade Hardware
Fate Merged with Bunnings Warehouse
Founded 3 October 1992
Defunct 2001
Number of locations
 60 (prior to acquisition)
Area served
 Australia, New Zealand
Owner BBC Hardware
Number of employees
 5000+ (2000)
Parent

Burns Philp (1992-1994)

Howard Smith Limited (1994-2001)
A converted Hardwarehouse store now trading as Bunnings Warehouse in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. The three columns topped by balls were a fixture of all Hardwarehouse stores.

Hardwarehouse was a former chain of hardware stores, with stores located in Australia and New Zealand. Hardwarehouse developed the hardware warehouse concept based on comparisons to overseas chains B&Q and Home Depot. Along with BBC Hardware, Hardwarehouse became the largest independently owned hardware retailer in Australia before it was absorbed into Bunnings Warehouse.

History

On 3 October 1992, Hardwarehouse was launched in New South Wales as BBC Home Depot. It was established as a way for BBC Hardware to implement and develop the hardware warehouse concept in Australia and then later in New Zealand. The first store was opened in Bankstown, although it was larger in volume than the stores that opened later, it proved to be very successful. BBC Hardware continued market testing to help the concept find its footing. The second store opened at Rockdale in 1993, and the third and fourth at Thornleigh and Caringbah in 1994, as the format had been simplified.[1]

In July 1994, Howard Smith Limited bought BBC Hardware Limited from Burns Philp and the chain was rebranded as Hardwarehouse.

Since 1994, Hardwarehouse opened 6 to 13 stores a year.[2] By 2001, The chain had 56 stores operating in Australia and 4 stores in New Zealand.

Acquisition

On 13 June 2001, Howard Smith Limited, owner of BBC Hardware and Hardwarehouse, was bought by Wesfarmers Limited. The chain began its transition with the stores trading as Bunnings Warehouse by the end of 2001. 57 of the acquired stores were repainted and retrofitted by late 2004, this included the larger stores in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and New Zealand.[3]

During the transition period, 3 of the acquired Hardwarehouse stores were closed. A number of the former Hardwarehouse stores that Bunnings Warehouse relocated from have become retail bulky goods stores, or repurposed for other uses.

References

  1. ↑ "About Us". Hardwarehouse. 2000-10-15. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "Wesfarmers News - Wesfarmers sends offer document to Howard Smith shareholders" (PDF). 29 June 2001. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  3. ↑ Hooper, Narelle (June 13, 2001). "Howard Smith shares boom with news of Wesfarmers takeover". Retrieved 26 April 2016.
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