Hard Times As Handymen Shun Small Operators
Sun Herald
Sunday May 22, 2005
THE number of hardware stores in Australia has fallen by 20 per cent over the past decade as megastores take over from traditional suburban shops, industry figures show.
Hardware retailers in Balmain, Stanmore and Eastwood have closed in recent months.Smaller retailers say the trend means a decline in service for consumers as hectares of homewares and plants replace owner-operated stores.But a leading consumer group believes shoppers are largely winners because of lower prices and convenience.Brian Reynolds, national secretary of the Hardware Federation of Australia, said several factors, including the arrival of megastores, had caused the total number of stores to fall.He said consumers now expected hardware stores to have wide ranges and stock leisure wear and plants, as well as traditional items."Stores that have not been able to track those changes and reconfigure their businesses and meet those new expectations have had problems," Mr Reynolds said."A number of them have gone out of business."The Wesfarmers-owned Bunnings chain is the industry's largest single player, operating more than 60 stores in NSW and scores more in other states.A number of independent stores band together under banner brands, such as Mitre 10 and the brands operated by the John Danks company.Mr Reynolds said independent stores which were not aligned were facing increasingly difficult times. "Smaller businesses don't have the economies of scale or the access to the buying power or the marketing power," he said.Gordon Brown closed the doors last week on Brown's Hardware, the Balmain shop his family had operated since 1937.The business was established by the three sons of Mr Brown's grandfather, who arrived in Balmain in 1890 as a builder.Mr Brown said price competition from stores such as Bunnings had made it difficult for him to run a viable business. The business paperwork was also becoming unmanageable."It's just the pressure of what's going on," Mr Brown said."Balmain is changing, the whole industry is changing."Bunnings have made a great impact on the smaller stores, all the advertising that they do, pushing it pretty hard."Mr Brown said his store had one employee with 32 years' experience. He said customers at large chains were unlikely to be served by people with such good knowledge of the products they sold."You lose the service, you lose the people," he said.Australian Consumers Association deputy chief executive Norm Crothers said the industry appeared to be undergoing a similar transition to the grocery sector, where corner stores struggled to compete with supermarkets.He said the megastores appeared to benefit consumers, as in his experience their prices were often lower and the staff reasonably knowledgeable.But Mr Crothers said fewer stores meant consumers may have to travel further to find a retailer.
© 2005 Sun Herald
