http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

JoeJoe expressed precisely :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Nope, they have been a mess for years...

For the caravan, I swapped over to a certain brand of exchangeable
lightweight gas bottle - a great system originally developed by BP,
available at BP garages and cheaper than Calor. BP pulled out, Macgas
bought the rights, since when access to the bottles has been
'difficult' with so very few stockists. That is except for Homebase.
Homebase put in a policy of only swapping bottles, if you had bought
the original deposit from them and could produce the original receipt,
even then the swap cost was over £32 when with difficulty it could be
found from other sources for £24-50, but well scattered.

Last year Homebase dropped the requirement for the original bottle
receipt and dropped the price to a much more reasonable £27-50. This
year they ramped the price up to a whopping £41-99. I managed to find a
stockist selling for £27-50 50 miles away, then a much more local
supplier willing to source the gas and deliver it to home for £27-00,
who is to deliver later today.

On Fri, 25 May 2018 09:13:07 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For the caravan, I swapped over to a certain brand of exchangeable
lightweight gas bottle - a great system originally developed by BP,
available at BP garages and cheaper than Calor.

I've just got one of these for the caravan & also use it on the patio for
the BBQ.

http://www.safefill.co.uk/

£160 investment for the 10Kg, but I own it & the initial fill was the grand
sum of £9 for about 16.5l. A third of the cost of a Calor 6Kg exchange, for
50% more gas in a comparable cylinder footprint.

On 25/05/2018 11:30, DC wrote:
On Fri, 25 May 2018 09:13:07 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For the caravan, I swapped over to a certain brand of exchangeable
lightweight gas bottle - a great system originally developed by BP,
available at BP garages and cheaper than Calor.

I've just got one of these for the caravan & also use it on the patio for
the BBQ.

http://www.safefill.co.uk/

£160 investment for the 10Kg, but I own it & the initial fill was the grand
sum of £9 for about 16.5l. A third of the cost of a Calor 6Kg exchange, for
50% more gas in a comparable cylinder footprint.


Their site shows not a single Safefill filling retailer within the M25 -
nor anywhere near it. Seems to me rather odd.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 25/05/2018 11:54, Robin wrote:
On 25/05/2018 11:30, DC wrote:
On Fri, 25 May 2018 09:13:07 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For the caravan, I swapped over to a certain brand of exchangeable
lightweight gas bottle - a great system originally developed by BP,
available at BP garages and cheaper than Calor.

I've just got one of these for the caravan & also use it on the patio for
the BBQ.

http://www.safefill.co.uk/

£160 investment for the 10Kg, but I own it & the initial fill was the
grand
sum of £9 for about 16.5l. A third of the cost of a Calor 6Kg
exchange, for
50% more gas in a comparable cylinder footprint.


Their site shows not a single Safefill filling retailer within the M25 -
nor anywhere near it.Â* Seems to me rather odd.

And the smaller cylinders out of stock in the whole of England and Scotland.

Perhaps they take the deposit and runnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

How much longer are they staying in business!

Robin wrote :
On 25/05/2018 11:30, DC wrote:
On Fri, 25 May 2018 09:13:07 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For the caravan, I swapped over to a certain brand of exchangeable
lightweight gas bottle - a great system originally developed by BP,
available at BP garages and cheaper than Calor.

I've just got one of these for the caravan & also use it on the patio for
the BBQ.

http://www.safefill.co.uk/

£160 investment for the 10Kg, but I own it & the initial fill was the grand
sum of £9 for about 16.5l. A third of the cost of a Calor 6Kg exchange, for
50% more gas in a comparable cylinder footprint.


Their site shows not a single Safefill filling retailer within the M25 - nor
anywhere near it. Seems to me rather odd.

I think the Safefill system means you can fill up at any petrol station
which has an LPG pump outlet.

On 25/05/2018 13:36, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Robin wrote :
On 25/05/2018 11:30, DC wrote:
On Fri, 25 May 2018 09:13:07 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

For the caravan, I swapped over to a certain brand of exchangeable
lightweight gas bottle - a great system originally developed by BP,
available at BP garages and cheaper than Calor.

I've just got one of these for the caravan & also use it on the patio
for
the BBQ.

http://www.safefill.co.uk/

£160 investment for the 10Kg, but I own it & the initial fill was the
grand
sum of £9 for about 16.5l. A third of the cost of a Calor 6Kg
exchange, for
50% more gas in a comparable cylinder footprint.


Their site shows not a single Safefill filling retailer within the M25
- nor anywhere near it.* Seems to me rather odd.

I think the Safefill system means you can fill up at any petrol station
which has an LPG pump outlet.

Not in practice. From the Safefill site: "LPG is now available on many
petrol station forecourts however as the industry has had concerns about
people illegally filling rented cylinders, you may be refused in many of
these..."

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On Fri, 25 May 2018 11:54:25 +0100, Robin wrote:

Their site shows not a single Safefill filling retailer within the M25 -
nor anywhere near it. Seems to me rather odd.

Well I'm well outside the M25 & got mine from
https://www.lodgefarmleisure.com/ who have invested in a propane tank. They
sell lots of them but do struggle with getting them due to their
popularity.

You can fill these at petrol stations but some don't like it due to safety
concerns, so thay have a document for you to show at petrol stations.

http://www.safefill.co.uk/pdf/petrol-heads-up-2017.pdf

I should add they are also light, as they are plastic apart from the gas
connections. Also safe in the event of a fire, they will gracefully spring
leaks & burn off in a controlled manner.

I think it's 8 refills for ROI campared to exchange bottles.

After serious thinking DC wrote :
You can fill these at petrol stations but some don't like it due to safety
concerns, so thay have a document for you to show at petrol stations.

http://www.safefill.co.uk/pdf/petrol-heads-up-2017.pdf

I should add they are also light, as they are plastic apart from the gas
connections. Also safe in the event of a fire, they will gracefully spring
leaks & burn off in a controlled manner.

I think it's 8 refills for ROI campared to exchange bottles.

The absolutely identicle container to the BP Gaslight container, 5Kg
and 10Kg apart from - The BP has a green upper whereas that has red and
it has a safefill float valve built in to prevent over filling.

My full BP bottles arrive with the liquid up to the top of the upper
'window' in the white plastic. I had a fresh 10Kg delivered here as an
exchange, for the sum of £27 inc delivery - bargain compared to
Homebase's attempt to rob people.

On 25/05/2018 08:48, JoeJoe wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

The only thing I can think of are the bonuses the investment bankers who
advised them on the deal got as a result ;-)

JoeJoe wrote
JoeJoe wrote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

The only thing I can think of are the bonuses the investment bankers who
advised them on the deal got as a result ;-)

Wesfarmers dont use investment bankers.

They do their own ****ups.

On 25/05/18 10:17, Rod Speed wrote:
JoeJoe wrote
JoeJoe wrote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

The only thing I can think of are the bonuses the investment bankers
who advised them on the deal got as a result ;-)

Wesfarmers dont use investment bankers.

They do their own ****ups.

Ah. Proper DIY...

"JoeJoe" wrote in message
o.uk...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Only this week did I receive junk though my door telling me my local
Homebase was now Bunnings

Anyhow, this was just a complete failure of market research.

they could have just done nothing for 24 months whilst they sussed out what
Homebase's customers bought rather than jumping in and modifying the shops
as soon as they got them, and been financially much better off than now

"Jethro_uk" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 25 May 2018 10:15:49 +0100, tim... wrote:

they could have just done nothing for 24 months

By which time, there'd be nothing left.

obviously they would have restocked as stuff sold

what I meant was they shouldn't have changed the product mix without first
finding out which products sold

tim

It happens that tim... formulated :
obviously they would have restocked as stuff sold

what I meant was they shouldn't have changed the product mix without first
finding out which products sold

He was overkeen to put his own stamp on it, just as quickly as
possible. Like a kid with a new toy.

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
news
It happens that tim... formulated :
obviously they would have restocked as stuff sold

what I meant was they shouldn't have changed the product mix without
first finding out which products sold

He was overkeen to put his own stamp on it, just as quickly as possible.
Like a kid with a new toy.

that was a 300 million pound discarded new toy

tim

Yes well to be honest any of us could have made a better job of it I'd have
thought. Too much arrogance and not enough research.

I'm not sure they should get anything from a future sale aas they will have
been directly responsible for loads of job losses and loss of trust by the
public.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"JoeJoe" wrote in message
o.uk...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

On 25/05/18 15:30, Brian Gaff wrote:
Yes well to be honest any of us could have made a better job of it I'd have
thought. Too much arrogance and not enough research.


My son-in-law was an area manager for them and, before that, Homebase.
He spent most of 2017 trying to prevent them selling barbecues in
February and not to refer to things being "tit high" amongst other wonders.

They made him redundant the week before Christmas. He's got another,
better job now.

Another Dave

--
Change nospam to techie

JoeJoe wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.
Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.

On 26/05/2018 03:52, FMurtz wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.
Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.


Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to
the wall. There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&Q warehouse
and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were
a Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter
box leaflet drops. I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding
of UK culture and the DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid
for a failing business that the previous owners were glad to get shot of
and then ran it with incompetent management.

*My local Homebase had enough Christmas decorations at the start January
to decorate every house in a town of 200,000 people

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

alan_m wrote
FMurtz wrote
JoeJoe wrote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.

Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to the
wall.

They do things differently here and have just ****ed over
the attempt at a competitor and have sent it broke.

There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&Q warehouse

It is here, and in fact they have always offered to sell anything to you
for 10% less than any competitors price you can present them with.

And in fact currently have undercut Amazon on the Philips
Hue stuff that our Amazon has just offered, cheaper on
total price than anywhere in the entire country.

and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were a
Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter box
leaflet drops.

I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding of UK culture and the
DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid for a failing business
that the previous owners were glad to get shot of and then ran it with
incompetent management.

Its more complicated than that with the profits not being there.

*My local Homebase had enough Christmas decorations at the start January
to decorate every house in a town of 200,000 people

Dont believe that.

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...
alan_m wrote
FMurtz wrote
JoeJoe wrote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.

Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to the
wall.

They do things differently here

In what way.

and have just ****ed over
the attempt at a competitor and have sent it broke.

There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&Q warehouse

It is here, and in fact they have always offered to sell anything to you
for 10% less than any competitors price you can present them with.

And in fact currently have undercut Amazon on the Philips
Hue stuff that our Amazon has just offered, cheaper on
total price than anywhere in the entire country.

and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were a
Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter box
leaflet drops.

I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding of UK culture and the
DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid for a failing business
that the previous owners were glad to get shot of and then ran it with
incompetent management.

Its more complicated than that with the profits not being there.

The difference in the UK over Oz is probably that land costs in Oz for out
of town warehouses is going to be pretty much zero

whereas in the UK, it makes a huge addition to your costs base.

It's easy to compete with online if your shop space is cheap, next to
impossible if it isn't

tim

In article ,
tim... wrote:
The difference in the UK over Oz is probably that land costs in Oz for out
of town warehouses is going to be pretty much zero

whereas in the UK, it makes a huge addition to your costs base.

I couldn't understand how Homebase has lasted as long as it has. Got
several round here and when I go to them - midweek - always empty. Unlike
the single B&Q which is merely quiet. And that is being re-developed to
bring down their standing charges like business rates.

--
*Why isn't 11 pronounced onety one? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

tim... wrote
Rod Speed wrote
alan_m wrote
FMurtz wrote
JoeJoe wrote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a
set figure per month, I have not been in there since.

Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to
the wall.

They do things differently here

In what way.

In the way I mentioned next and the price undercutting after that.

and have just ****ed over the attempt at a competitor and have sent it
broke.

That was the Masters chain attempted by Woolworths.

There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&Q warehouse

It is here, and in fact they have always offered to sell anything to you
for 10% less than any competitors price you can present them with.

And in fact currently have undercut Amazon on the Philips
Hue stuff that our Amazon has just offered, cheaper on
total price than anywhere in the entire country.

and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were
a Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter
box leaflet drops.

I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding of UK culture and
the DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid for a failing
business that the previous owners were glad to get shot of and then ran
it with incompetent management.

Its more complicated than that with the profits not being there.

The difference in the UK over Oz is probably that land costs in Oz for out
of town warehouses is going to be pretty much zero

Nope, and out of town warehouses arent viable, they have to be
on the main transport hubs so the semis, what you lot call HGVs.
can move the stuff to the actual stores every day. The last thing
any operation needs is massive warehouses full of stuff that
isnt in front of customers for them to buy.

Amazon has just setup theirs in Melbourne late last year
and is now doing another in Sydney and neither of them
are out of town. And Amazon knows warehousing much
better than anyone else does. And even the out of town
land is anything even remotely like zero. And the cost of
the land for the warehouse isnt a major part of the costs
for an operation like Bunnings anyway.

whereas in the UK, it makes a huge addition to your costs base.

It is here too. Sydney industrial land where there is
decent road access isnt much cheaper than in Britain.

None of those operations or supermarkets use rail freight much at all.

It's easy to compete with online if your shop space is cheap, next to
impossible if it isn't

It isnt anything remotely like cheap in Sydney or Melbourne or
the other state capitals and thats where most of the population is.

On Sat, 26 May 2018 11:22:47 +0100, "tim..." wrote:



The difference in the UK over Oz is probably that land costs in Oz for out
of town warehouses is going to be pretty much zero

whereas in the UK, it makes a huge addition to your costs base.

It's easy to compete with online if your shop space is cheap, next to
impossible if it isn't

Except commercial property or land zoned as such and located in metropolitan
areas in Australia is not particularly 'cheap'

Locate it actually in the arse end of nowhere rather than near the arse end of
nowhere and it might be really cheap
--

On Saturday, 26 May 2018 09:19:51 UTC+1, alan_m wrote:
On 26/05/2018 03:52, FMurtz wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.
Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.


Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to
the wall. There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&Q warehouse
and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were
a Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter
box leaflet drops. I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding
of UK culture and the DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid
for a failing business that the previous owners were glad to get shot of
and then ran it with incompetent management.

*My local Homebase had enough Christmas decorations at the start January
to decorate every house in a town of 200,000 people

Their incompetence is remarkable. I looked at fence posts, a good half of them were too bent & twisted for it to be possible to use them for fencing, never mind look acceptable. Yet they still wanted £6 for a very small post. I wouldn't pay £1 for them. A retailer with basic sense would skip them without hesitation, not even worth dumping at the auction.

And the reduced to clear section, which is always rather large, mostly has stock that's overpriced despite being a fraction of the price. Their steel shelving units OTOH are fairly good value. Some of the paint is so cheap I daren't even try it, the rest is overpriced.

If Bunnings is succeeding in Oz, they must have sent the halfwit brother over to run the UK chain.


NT

On 26/05/2018 09:19, alan_m wrote:
On 26/05/2018 03:52, FMurtz wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.
Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a
set figure per month, I have not been in there since.


Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to
the wall. There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&QÂ* warehouse
and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were
a Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter
box leaflet drops. I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding
of UK culture and the DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid
for a failing business that the previous owners were glad to get shot of
and then ran it with incompetent management.

*My local Homebase had enough Christmas decorations at the start January
to decorate every house in a town of 200,000 people



My impression from my last visit to Oz 5 years ago was that the Aussies
must have too much money in their pockets, with retailers making it
their mission to extract it. I am familiar with the supermarket
situation there that clearly results in much higher grocery prices, but
it seemed to stretch to pretty much everything else as well.

I can still recall driving in Queensland for 2/3 days with nothing but
pineapple fields on either side of the road, clearly just about ready
for harvesting, and stretching as far as the eye could see. We went into
a Coles during one of our stops and were amazed to see that they were
selling them at £3 each...

"JoeJoe" wrote in message
...
On 26/05/2018 09:19, alan_m wrote:
On 26/05/2018 03:52, FMurtz wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.
Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.


Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in the
local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't gone to the
wall. There pricing wasn't competitive with the local B&Q warehouse and
they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5 minutes away were a
Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally with regular letter box
leaflet drops. I see that they are blaming a lack of understanding of UK
culture and the DIY market but (IMO) in reality they just overpaid for a
failing business that the previous owners were glad to get shot of and
then ran it with incompetent management.

*My local Homebase had enough Christmas decorations at the start January
to decorate every house in a town of 200,000 people

My impression from my last visit to Oz 5 years ago was that the Aussies
must have too much money in their pockets, with retailers making it their
mission to extract it. I am familiar with the supermarket situation there
that clearly results in much higher grocery prices,

Thats bull****.

but it seemed to stretch to pretty much everything else as well.

Nope, most obviously with phones, cars, houses etc.

I can still recall driving in Queensland for 2/3 days with nothing but
pineapple fields on either side of the road,

Fantasy. Give us the goggle map reference where that's the case.

clearly just about ready for harvesting, and stretching as far as the eye
could see.

Thats not the same as all you can see for 2/3 days driving at 100KM/h

We went into a Coles during one of our stops and were amazed to see that
they were selling them at £3 each...

Pity about
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-nation...eapple-topless

Thats half your claim. And its now winter here, the off season.

On 26/05/2018 21:56, Rod Speed wrote:


"JoeJoe" wrote in message
...
On 26/05/2018 09:19, alan_m wrote:
On 26/05/2018 03:52, FMurtz wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.
Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over
my hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more
than a set figure per month, I have not been in there since.


Judging by whats been written and seeing what they have stocked in
the local Homebase* I'm surprised that the operation in Oz hasn't
gone to the wall. There pricing wasn't competitive with the local
B&QÂ* warehouse and they didn't seem to realise that they were only 5
minutes away were a Screwfix and a Toolstation who advertise locally
with regular letter box leaflet drops. I see that they are blaming a
lack of understanding of UK culture and the DIY market but (IMO) in
reality they just overpaid for a failing business that the previous
owners were glad to get shot of and then ran it with incompetent
management.

*My local Homebase had enough Christmas decorations at the start
January to decorate every house in a town of 200,000 people

My impression from my last visit to Oz 5 years ago was that the
Aussies must have too much money in their pockets, with retailers
making it their mission to extract it. I am familiar with the
supermarket situation there that clearly results in much higher
grocery prices,

Thats bull****.

https://theconversation.com/why-aust...adership-71562

(bar chart half way down)



but it seemed to stretch to pretty much everything else as well.

Nope, most obviously with phones, cars, houses etc.

I can still recall driving in Queensland for 2/3 days with nothing but
pineapple fields on either side of the road,

Fantasy. Give us the goggle map reference where that's the case.

Can't remember the exact spot - it stretched for many many miles - but
we had spent 3 weeks driving along the Bruce Highway from Cairns to
Brisbane.

clearly just about ready for harvesting, and stretching as far as the
eye could see.

Thats not the same as all you can see for 2/3 days driving at 100KM/h

What? The bot broke down here...


We went into a Coles during one of our stops and were amazed to see
that they were selling them at £3 each...

Pity about
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-nation...eapple-topless

Thats half your claim. And its now winter here, the off season.

We were there in late summer. AUD3.9 for 1? I just bought one today
here for 80p (AUD 1.4)... ...and mine came from Costa Rica, not from
down the road.

Sounds like they should be renamed Bunglings.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"FMurtz" wrote in message
...
JoeJoe wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.
Good I hate Bunnings, they cancelled my account when they took over my
hardware chain in Australia because I did not always buy more than a set
figure per month, I have not been in there since.

On Fri, 25 May 2018 08:48:17 +0100, JoeJoe wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Lived in Oz for a few years, a company rented newbuild property with maintenance
contract for everything, so no need to even consider any DIY, and from what I
understood lots of what we do in the UK home either legally or not such as
structural work, plumbing and electrics are well off limits with the protected
trades they have over there.

Can't understand how an outsider like Bunnings knew anything about the UK
market, the current incumbents like B&Q, Wickes and Homebase struggle as to
what they are and what market they are aiming for.


--

In article ,
The Other Mike wrote:
Can't understand how an outsider like Bunnings knew anything about the
UK market, the current incumbents like B&Q, Wickes and Homebase
struggle as to what they are and what market they are aiming for.

Can only speak for round here, but generally no matter when I visit, Wicks
looks busy enough to be making a profit. Unlike B&Q (which is much larger)
and Homebase. My local Wicks also has Toolstation inside, so must have
reduced the proportion of the fixed costs attributed to Wicks alone
dramatically.

--
*If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends? *

Dave Plowman London SW
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On 29/05/2018 10:46, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
The Other Mike wrote:
Can't understand how an outsider like Bunnings knew anything about the
UK market, the current incumbents like B&Q, Wickes and Homebase
struggle as to what they are and what market they are aiming for.

Can only speak for round here, but generally no matter when I visit, Wicks
looks busy enough to be making a profit. Unlike B&Q (which is much larger)
and Homebase. My local Wicks also has Toolstation inside, so must have
reduced the proportion of the fixed costs attributed to Wicks alone
dramatically.


Judging by the number of sign written "white vans" that use Wickes car
parks I get the impression that it is used by many small jobbing
builders whereas B&Q less so. I doubt that anyone in building business
uses Homebase.

My local B&Q has a trade only checkout situated the other end of the
warehouse to that for the general public. I have no idea what the price
differential may be.

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The Other Mike wrote
JoeJoe wrote

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.

Lived in Oz for a few years, a company rented newbuild property with
maintenance contract for everything, so no need to even consider any
DIY, and from what I understood lots of what we do in the UK home
either legally or not such as structural work, plumbing and electrics
are well off limits with the protected trades they have over there.

Only with electrical and plumbing,, not structural.

And Bunnings is happy to flog you what you need for any
electrical and plumbing work that isnt legal for DIY anyway.

Can't understand how an outsider like Bunnings
knew anything about the UKmarket,

They clearly didn't.

the current incumbents like B&Q, Wickes and Homebase struggle
as to what they are and what market they are aiming for.

And yet outsiders like Aldi and Costco do fine here.

And Amazon and Ebay have done fine there too.

JoeJoe wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409
It was never going to end up well.

I went in yesterday (a bit closer than B&Q) to see what storage crates
they had, I needn't have bothered ... loads of smashed stock, items with
no prices on them or on the shelves, no staff around to ask questions
.... bit of a shambles really.

Jethro_uk wrote:

On Fri, 25 May 2018 08:48:17 +0100, JoeJoe wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44248409

It was never going to end up well.


I have just returned from our local Homebase store. I wanted a litre of
brilliant white emulsion. Nobody stocks such a small amount so I took a 2.5
litre can. My overall impression though is that it looks dowdier with each
visit.

You could usually rely on the carewash crew stationed in a corner of their
car park. They and their hut were gone and a returned trolley catcher
occupied its space. I guess they are for the chop too.

After thet go it is a choice of B&Q about 6 miles away or B&Q 8 miles away.
Bad news all round.


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