Auckland’s Largest Diy Store Opens

Auckland’s Largest Diy Store Opens

Auckland’s largest DIY store will open its doors today (Friday 26 March 2004) with hundreds of DIY enthusiasts expected to take advantage of the store’s Mega offerings.

Mitre 10 Mega Henderson at the former Soljans wine estate on Lincoln Road spans a massive 2.8 hectare site – equivalent of four rugby fields.

The Mega store will have up to 45,000 DIY products including new and extended ranges such as flooring, entire kitchens and bathrooms and lighting.

The $12.5 million development is part of Mitre 10’s nationwide rollout of up to 20 Mega stores over the next three years.

The Mega stores are in response to continued growth in the $1.1 billion home improvement sector says Head of Mitre 10 Communications, Peter Stewart -

“New Zealand has one the largest number of DIY- ers per head of population in the world and Auckland is leading the charge.

Visitors to the new store will be really blown-away by the range of products - It really does have everything you need for your do-it-yourself projects from landscaping to outdoor furniture to tiles.”

A recent survey commissioned by Mitre 10 found that more than half of women surveyed had carried out a DIY task within the past 2 years and 63% had used power tools.

The first Mitre 10 Mega store opened in Hastings last month and resource consent has also been granted for Mega stores in Petone, Wellington, Papakura and Botany Downs, Auckland and Tauranga.

EDITORS NOTES

Mitre 10’s existing Henderson store on Sel Peacock Drive closed on March 15th 2004 – all staff moved to the new Mega store

The store will celebrate its opening weekend on Saturday March 27th and Sunday March 28th 2004 with New Zealand strongman Levi Vaoga appearing as the face of the Mega development.

Mitre 10 Henderson was purpose built in 1994 by the current storeowner Vinod Kumar. By 1999 the store had outgrown its Sel Peacock Dr building – it was then demolished and rebuilt.

In 1989 Kumar employed 6 people - the new Henderson Mega store will employ 124 employees.

The Westgate Mitre 10 store, also owned by Vinod Kumar, will continue to trade in the existing format as a Mitre 10 Home and Trade store.

Mitre 10 has been a household name since 1974 after being introduced by 15 hardware retailers who had watched the success of Mitre 10 in Australia.

Today Mitre 10 has 123 stores throughout New Zealand. The retail giant currently employs up to 2,000 staff nationwide and has an annual turnover of $500 million.

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