Woolworths will open the doors on its first Masters store at Albion Park Rail early next month.
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It will be the first of three "big box" stores the hardware chain plans to open in the Illawarra region, with another at South Nowra under construction and plans lodged for another at Fairy Meadow.
The 13,000-square metre Albion Park Rail store will have between 120-140 staff when it opens, which follows a recruitment campaign that began in November. There are 115 staff already working at the store adding the final touches including filling the shelves with millions of dollars worth of stock and adding tickets to the shelves for more than 10,000 products.
While Masters is part of the changing landscape of the hardware industry, so too is the store's all female leadership team.
Store manager Jade Howieson and assistant store manager Lina Sharma have both worked at various Masters stores including the first Masters store at Braybrook in Victoria which opened in 2011, while compliance manager Anita Gynn returns home to the Illawarra having recently worked at the Gregory Hills store.
Across the Masters chain around half of all employees in its 60 stores are women, a ratio that continues at Albion Park.
"We've been around long enough now where we understand the business," Ms Howieson said.
Ms Sharma, who left BBC Hardware in 2000, said being a young female manager in the hardware industry was a challenge in those days, but times had changed.
"We have a female electrician who is brilliant [and] we have some really good females in hardware and trade," Ms Sharma said. "At Masters opportunities have been there ... no one has ever treated you different because you are female."
The rollout of the Masters chain, designed to challenge rival Bunnings, has been blamed for contributing to Woolworths' falling share price.
In response the new stores follow the chain's new "shopper friendly" format aimed at improving Masters overall fortunes.
The grand opening is planned for July 11 and 12.