By Chris Nicholls
MELBOURNE: Betta Electrical Cranbourne is set to open its new Mornington store in mid-September, following finalisation of discussions on the shop’s location.
Cranbourne store manager, Dane Hocking, told Current.com.au that the store would open in the same Mornington Homemaker Centre as the previous Betta Electrical, but in a larger, better located shop.
While initial discussions centred on Mornington’s Main Street, the new location places them in the same centre as rivals Retravision, Clive Peeters and to a lesser degree, Officeworks.
Hocking said the rivals would assist the new store, though, making the Homemaker Centre a destination for potential customers.
The store will be 1,150 square metres, making the store equal in size to the Cranbourne Superstore, and while it will contain a full range of AV and IT goods, cooking would be a key focus, said Hocking.
“Our cooking business in Cranbourne’s incredibly strong anyway, and it’s grown very quickly, so we’ll definitely run up that line. We’ve got over 100 [linear] metres of cooking planned for Mornington, so it’ll be a big cooking centre, but it will be a full solution, though.”
While the store’s opening dates are yet to be confirmed, Hocking said the shop’s previous occupants would move out from 1 September, and he expected fitout to take two weeks.
“Everything going to plan, we’ll be opened in mid-September, but I think the grand opening’s in early October and then we’re off and running,” he said.
The Mornington store will also increase the Cranbourne store owner’s coverage to the whole Mornington Peninsula, said Hocking.
“Because of our footprint, they [BSR Group] catalogue all the way down to Philip Island for us, and with the addition of Mornington, and obviously with the pre-existing Rosebud store, we’ll catalogue all the way down the peninsula, which covers about 182,000 homes,” he said.
He said this would be assisted by their own cooking catalogue, sent out four times a year.