IT'S A YOU-BEAUT BUNNINGS
Company reveals gigantic new complex set to open next week
COVERING 18,000sqm and 295m in length, Toowoomba’s newest Bunnings is almost one-and-and-half times the size of the original warehouse and a massive addition to the city’s growing list of businesses.
Residents have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the $50 million Bunnings Toowoomba North development since construction began last year which is set to celebrate its official grand opening next week.
Complex manager Dan Olzard said it has been a huge task to prepare the store in time for the opening.
“We work over a four-week process so we are currently putting the finishing touches on it and obviously getting the store merchandise ready for our grand opening,” Mr Olzard said.
The new store has welcomed about 170 team members which includes 110 new team members employed from the Toowoomba region, 52 from the Toowoomba West Bunnings store and four transferred from other stores.
“We have had some really great feedback around our opening and I think just for the location of the store and the amount of traffic that goes past this site it’s going to be a real benefit to the Toowoomba community for sure.”
While Toowoomba already has a 13,000sqm Bunnings store, Mr Olzard, who was previously complex manager there, said it was very successful and one of the busiest in Queensland.
“We had definitely come to a stage where we needed a second one just because of the amount of trade that was going through that store,” he said.
But Mr Olzard thinks the new store provides more “wow factor” than the first, which celebrated its 10th birthday in August.
Features of the new store include 370 parks, including some undercover, a cafe, kids playground and a seven-lane timber drive-through which is set to be great benefit to commercial customers.
Built on the site of the former Toowoomba Foundry, the development has also managed to maintain historical buildings such as the administration building, cylinder head building and the machine shed.
It has also maintained a memorial along with an olive tree, dedicated to a worker who died on-site at the Toowoomba Foundry 20 years ago and workers even managed to salvage a man’s ashes buried at the site and return them to his family.
“The foundry was very significant in Toowoomba so there are a lot of people’s families who worked here and I think, at one stage, had about 1600 workers; it was huge,” Mr Olzard said.
“It used to be a really huge part of Toowoomba so it was important we maintained a lot of that.”
The new store will even support community groups with the famous Bunnings sausage sizzle and has helped out by doing gardening works at Harlaxton Community Centre and Olive McMahon Lodge and building buddy benches for Toowoomba North State School.
The new store will celebrate its grand opening on Friday, November 10 by opening at the special time of 6.30am. A family-friendly celebration will then be held from 6pm complete with activities, food and even fireworks.