At former Homebase site.
Bunnings opened its first store outside of Australia last week at St. Albans in Hertfordshire, England. The pilot store is located on the site of the former Homebase store.
The St. Albans store is reportedly 67,000 square feet in size, stocks over 30,000 different home and garden lines, which is 40% more than the average Homebase offered. There is also a 19,000 square feet garden centre and a dedicated DIY workshop area, a cafe and indoor children’s playground. The store employs 68 people, almost double the workforce of the previous Homebase store.
To celebrate the opening, Bunnings introduced its infamous ‘Sausage Sizzle’ to the UK with Peter ‘PJ’ Davis, managing director of Bunnings UK and Ireland, cooking breakfast for team members, according to local media reports.
“It’s great to be able to give people a taste of what Bunnings is all about. Our policy is to offer customers the lowest prices, the widest range and best service, and hopefully our first pilot store demonstrates that,” Davis said.
Davis said they will open their second Bunnings store in April in Hatfield Road, St. Albans and added they are on track to have at least four pilots up and running by the summer. “We are laying strong foundations on which to build the Bunnings Warehouse business in the UK and Ireland for generations to come,” he said.