The “big box” Masters store at Albion Park Rail, which only opened its doors a little over a year ago, will be shut by Christmas.
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Woolworths this week revealed a closing date for its failed home improvement chain, with all Masters stores across the country to close their doors for good on or before December 11.
The supermarket giant announced the sale of its Home Timber and Hardware chain to Mitre 10's owner, Metcash, and the sale of its Masters Home Improvement stores on Wednesday.
It first flagged its exit from the business in January.
More than 100 staff are employed at the 13,000-square metre Albion Park Rail store, which opened in July – the first of three “big box” stores touted for the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.
It is unclear how soon the Illawarra store will shut.
The Mercury asked the company for a specific closure date, but a Woolworths spokesman said operations grinding to a halt would “be subject to the clearance of stock”.
The Masters shutdown means more than half a billion dollars of discount hardware will be offloaded in a massive fire sale, which could start as early as this week.
Woolworths said it would “work hard to find Masters employees jobs within the Group, or will pay full redundancy where suitable roles are not available”.
“Our top priority remains to do the right thing by our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders,” the spokesman said.
Woolworths said it would honour all customer gift cards, warranties, returns and laybys, and would complete any contracted installation projects.
Masters South Nowra was almost complete when Woolworths first indicated it would pull the plug on hardware sales.
The company confirmed at the time that store would not open.
Plans for a store at Fairy Meadow that was, subject to approval, expected to open this year, were lodged in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Illawarra’s Home Timber and Hardware Group (HTHG) stores – at Bulli and Unanderra – are expected to operate as normal, despite the sale of the chain.
Woolworths will net $165 million by selling the HTHG to Metcash, allowing it to merge with Mitre 10 and create a new $2 billion player in the sector.
“Home Timber & Hardware … will continue to trade and service independent hardware customers throughout the country, providing access to leading domestic and global brands,” the spokesman said.
- with Patrick Hatch