Home Timber & Hardware at Dapto is closing down in the next fortnight and its services relocating to an associated store at Unanderra. Picture: DAVE TEASE
An established Illawarra hardware company will close its Dapto shopfront as part of a company-wide restructure.
Dapto Home Timber & Hardware would close its doors in about two weeks and its services would be relocated to the company's flagship store at Unanderra, owner Hans Van de Haar said.
"Dapto is so close to the store here and in the past we've found Dapto is probably more a convenience store," he said.
Mr Van de Haar's fourth-generation family company also operates hardware stores at Bulli and Unanderra, a paint shop at Warilla and businesses in Nowra.
He said sales at the Dapto business had been hit by the building downturn and drop in discretionary spending.
"It's obvious from the average value of sales at Dapto that people are spending less," he said.
"I think people are struggling and we feel we can offer a better service - a better range - combining it with the Unanderra store," he said.
As an independent retailer, the company also faces stiff competition from online retailers and major outlets like Bunnings, Mitre 10 and Woolworths' new home improvement venture Masters.
A massive Masters store is already planned at Albion Park Rail, about eight kilometres from the Dapto outlet.
"We are now redefining our business," Mr Van de Haar said.
"We won't be one of the big boxes. We want to create a different experience.
"We're going to go into new products and services perhaps the others don't participate in."
That included additional services such as helping customers with installations or doing the work for them.
He expected fewer than 10 voluntary redundancies.
Management have met with about 100 employees from across the group in the past several days to discuss the changes and to try to minimise redundancies.
Mr Van de Haar said some staff would be redeployed, while others might choose to go into retirement or begin to work part-time.
"A lot of people's circumstances have changed over the years," he said.
"We're just giving everyone in the company an opportunity to change their employment status and from that we will see what needs to be done."