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Masters Home Improvement - 50% off All Sherwin Williams Paint + More

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Unfortunately the axe has fallen and Masters will cease trading at all stores on or before 11 December 2016.

Advice from staff today highlighted the upcoming catalogue starting Thursday, 25 August is a sign of things to come, with continually improving discounts leading upto the 11 December or earlier.

Current Catalogue Deals:
50% off All Sherwin Williams Paint - https://www.masters.com.au/brands/sherwin-williams
30% off All Garage Storage
20% off BBQ accessories - https://www.masters.com.au/garden-outdoor-living/bbqs-outdoo…
20% off hozelock hoses and fittings


For information regarding the closure

Mod 25/8: The original title was 'Closing down / Fire Sale', however Masters have informed us that these offers are part of the regular catalogue, much of it covered in the previous catalogue deal post. Note that the catalogue is no longer available online and experience in store may vary, see comments.

Mod 26/8: Masters have clarified: For now the catalogue prices are still active in stores however they may not be ticketed, customers will find they still scan at the registers.

This is part of Father's Day deals for 2016.

Related Stores

Masters Home Improvement
Masters Home Improvement

closed Comments

  • +4

    Oh another Dick ….

  • +84

    Sad news, Bunnings will be a monopoly for the time being.
    Masters had its moments, rip!

    • +13

      It mostly came down to a matter of convenience… one Bunnings ~5-10 mins drive, another 10-15 mins drive. Nearest Masters is 30-40 mins drive.

      Good deals? Yea. But not close enough to visit on a whim. I wish there was a closer store but that's never going to happen now.

      • +27

        I personally found Masters also sold more branded stuff and few more niche items instead of Bunnings own brands.

        Guess thats what hurt their margins.

        • +3

          they should have leveraged more of the lowes lines from their USA partner ….. much more leverage than Bunnings but probably woollies executives wanted to drive it and get bonuses.

          now to hope I can get a bigger char broil infrared bbq at better then the usual 20% discount.

        • @garage sale:

          They did leverage Lowes lines such as Kobalt.

          Problem is no one locally knew the brands and avoided them.

      • +2

        My uncle is a seasoned painter, and he put it well: If you're a trades person and you've been using a particular brand (say Wattle or Dulux paint) for 2 decades, and it has not failed you, why on earth would you risk using something else for a 5% or 10% discount?

        Aside from this, anybody can figure out that the home improvement market is saturated- Bunnings has suppressed Mitre 10, killed McEwans.. don't need to be some bigwig CEO to figure out that another competitor would be redundant (although admittedly the woolworths boss couldn't!!).

        • +12

          For money? 10% discount on paint if your a painter would be loads. You test it out before you switch over to it completely, but you still give it a go.

          I think your uncle has a point, but my opinion is masters didn't know who the hell they were selling to. The stores are brightly lit, the floors are shiny, and there's an endless stream of people asking if you want help (They can't give it to you, they just want to know if you need it). It just came of as cheap and tacky, as did a lot of the stuff they sold. Sure it was a few bucks cheaper, but often much thinner and likely to break.

          I've heard that the concept of masters was supposed to be a hardware shop for women. That's like setting up a store that sells frilly clothes for men. It was never going to work.

          Bunnings, on the other hand, looks rough and dingy, and they pay a loooot of money to keep that look, because they know it appeals to men, and men are mostly the ones that shop for hardware.

        • -1

          You right about old painter they know what trust and stick by it. went they paint will last 10 years it will last 10 years.

        • @outlander: They what to know if going to last 10 years trust me it not going cost lots more in labor repaint a job for free for customer as paint has failed.

        • +1

          Yeah I've done my own painting/tiling/grouting/plumbing.. and I've only used reputable brands that have stood the test of australian conditions.. I saw the crazy grouts at masters, with 17 languages on them.. and they may work well in europe/usa.. but I know what works here.. a few extra $ for peace of mind.

          When I've used painters, I've insisted on major brand paint. (and 10% off may(?) mean 10% extra labour to recoat due to paint being more diluted, or the tradie otherwise having issues dealing with it, or sourcing more of it etc.

      • In my situation, Masters is a 3 minute drive. Bunnings is closer to 10-15.
        I have another Masters 15-20mins away.

      • For me it came down to stock levels and service. I tried to go to Masters a bunch of times, shelves were always half bare and no staff in site.

    • +4

      Suddenly on Dec 12th, bunnings will increase their prices due to increased supplier costs or blame aussie dollar

      • Well you can't say they didn't warn you. It's written in a 12 foot font on the side of the shed:

        "lowest prices are just [for] the beginning…"

  • +23

    There goes the competition

    • +3

      Plenty of competition with Mitre 10 and your locally owned hardware shop. I mean those that are left after everyone ran to Bunnings and masters with the promise of saving $2. But that's how the model works I guess, undercut the small guys until there are none left and then charge what you want.

  • +6

    No Bunnings sucks and now this happens

    • +1

      So all Bunnings are good, is that what you're saying?

    • -1

      imo masters suck.. it's clinical, don't allow dogs, they wear these ridiculous pharmacy aprons, they make you enter one door and exit another, but sometimes for fun they'll lock that exit door because the store is near-empty.. but they won't tell you of course.. that's part of the fun! there's very little grin/grit to invite us tradies, staff look like german soldiers towards the end of WWII, ie fresh faced/inexperienced/out of place. last time I was there the insane security system went off on me, one of hitler's youth came and swiped the system to shut down the alarms then interrogated me and my possessions. Bunnings is warm, inviting, come and go as you please, friendly, tradie orientated.. they have good recruitment to ensure cultural fit (dunno how the dry/mean scottish lady at compton rd bunnings got the job tho (imo only.. she's the only bitter person I've come across at Bummings)

  • +30

    Kogan should buy Masters lol

  • +3

    best time for a new lawn mower.

    • +5

      Waiting for a deal on their Honda's, the question is how long do you hold out once the prices start to drop and their stock starts to clear out.

      • fathers day

      • damn was hoping it was just me!

      • They may not discount the Honda equipment too much as I'm not sure if Honda have them on consignment. Or, perhaps Honda will buy them back at a better price than Masters will Need to discount them to sell them

        • I wouldn't expect them to last for any longer than say 20-30% sale stage which I imagine would be more than their return value.

          edit, from memory they are American models not Australian one so, would have to be shipped back there.

  • +6

    HT&H and Mitre10 have "merged" so there is a very strong competitor.
    http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/woolworths-in-trading-…

    • +4

      I think they are quite difference in term of targeted customer.

      • +4

        They both target tradesmen/women and diys. Pretty much covers most of the market.

    • +7

      HT&H near me is far superior in terms of knowledgeable staff and customer service, but bunnings price is usually 10-20% cheaper

      • +1

        Actually I find the prices at bunnings to be nothing special. I find cheaper stuff at mitre 10 all the time. But if I am looking for something off the wall generally speaking only bunnings will have it.

        Can't believe with all the fragmentation in the market that woolies couldnt make a go of it tho. I mean stratco is still trading, etc .

        • someone was telling me that Masters was designed with women in in mind. The layout and finishings of the store were all aimed at the female market… not sure if this is true

        • @supasaiyan: I think they were overly focused on attacking Wesfarmers rather than actually making sure masters was viable on its own.

    • Yeah duopolies don't tend to work very well as far as competition.

    • +4

      hard to beat the Bunnings direct from China supply chain if you are mitre 10.

      • -2

        Trade customer i know many Trade that go big trade house over bunnings will only go bunnings if real have to.

  • +4

    sad.
    less competition is not good for us

    There isn't many HTH or Mitre 10 around my area

  • Has maters stopped all click and collect orders or in general all online orders?

    • All online orders stopped from the time of today's announcement

      • +8

        Great way to move that inventory!

        • +8

          Their website is one of the main reasons its closing. They never got it right, shoe-horned it full of third party scripts, had appalling inventory, performance and search. I tried to use it a few times to see if they had something and failed each time. It was always hopelessly out of date, every time I wondered how long they'd be around running their central storefront that way.

          Not enough difference to Bunnings, and no real improvement where they could have made a massive amount in so many ways. Creativity/ideas are just something they lack, even though they paid their Ad Agencies big $$$.

          Looking forward to whoever convinces them to sell, clearly they are still having trouble so will run the stock levels down before accepting a low-ball offer from the likes of Kogan.

          Feel sorry for the staff. Most of them were quite keen and helpful.

          Seriously though, how do you go broke in Australia selling paint, timber, tools and barbecues? Woolies management should sack the entire Executive team, esp as they lost this after the Dick Smith debacle.

        • @zerovelocity:

          "the Dick Smith debacle."

          Actually they sold that off for a positive amount. Then packaged up by venture capital to look shiny, sold to mug punters for more, who lost more.

          They certainly did a lot wrong with Masters, but Dick Smith wasn't their debacle.

        • @odysseus: They did, but it wasn't the strategy they took to the shareholders when they bought DSE. It was an exit caused by unexpected risk- and that may well be due to their inability to take advantage of the opportunities. That seems to be a carbon copy of Masters' troubles, just smaller in scale.

  • +40

    i like Masters better than Bunnings,shame

    • +6

      I preferred masters, they had some quality stuff due to the lowes relationship instead of the generic Chinese products that Bunnings thrives on.

  • +33

    Got some great deals from Masters over the years. In many ways a better shopping experience than Bunnings. Sorry to see them go, especially bad for the staff that were so helpful.

    • +30

      Woolies management suck. They stuffed up Dick Smith (referring to the period before they sold it to the private equity group that ran it into the ground). They stuffed Masters. They have neglected their core grocery biz. I feel like all they have going for them is Dan Murphy.

      • +4

        This. The sheer arrogance of upper management at the time of the Masters launch was unbelievable - they were wanting to beat Wesfarmers at any cost even if it meant running at a loss for a decade and letting the Supermarket division rot. I attended the 2012 Woolies conference and the attitude from upper management was delusional at best.

        Some irony, is that a lot of Dick Smith middle management jumped ship to Masters once Dick Smith was sold to Anchorage… how they could trust Woolies to not mess things up a second time, I have no idea.

      • +6

        Yep.

        The crazy thing is when Dick Smith was in trouble they said supermarkets need to make cuts to compensate. Then they did the same thing when Masters wasn't profitable after a year. Then again when it still wasn't profitable.

        Every change in upper management brings some new idea that the next change in upper management pretty much reverse. All the while they've wasted serious money implementing those changes.

        Sure it's a private company and they can run it how they want but when their piece of the pie is as big as it is every stupid mistake has serious consequences for customers, staff, contractors, even neighbouring businesses and property developers. When you add all those people up it really has an impact on the community in general.

        • +10

          Its interesting that if Woolies was a private company Masters would have probably been given around 10 years to turn a profit. Given they are publically listed they arn't able to do whatever they want as ultimately they are accountable to shareholders.

          As an example it took Aldi 10 years (and billions of dollars) to turn a profit in Australia.

        • @abc: exactly. Aldi is privately owned so much better managed. At the end of the day woolies management is spending someone else's money, ie the shareholders.

          Woolies private label strategy still sucks I think.

      • +2

        Woolworths senior management are total stuff ups… even their flagship grocery business is being outdone in the marketplace big time. They are experts at laying blame away from themselves and whilst ever they continue to do that WW will continue to sink. They need a big flush out at the top level.

        • I worked in Petrol at the store level during the Top Gear mess. Upper management had set store budgets on the basis that it would be a wild success, and when it wasn't stores were expected to make the difference. Thankfully I'm out of retail and out of that company now

        • @xor: What was the Top Gear mess? Curious.

          Also, I'm working in Petrol. A year as of April. They've just cut us all down 20% but I'm still hanging in there…nowhere else to go, as usual. Ho hum.

        • @Selenium: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/162273 had mountains of this stuff. Coincidentally I left march a year ago. Got lucky and managed to get into software development

        • @xor: Interesting. Until recently we still had one of those things, actually.

          And nice, good for you. :P

  • -6

    I get on ebay masters seller currently awsy till jan 2017 on an item i was watching?

    • +19

      Can someone please translate?

      • +12

        "I logged onto my eBay account, and currently have an item being sold by Masters in my eBay watchlist, however it states that the seller is away until January 17?

      • The seller is marked as 'currently away' on the Master eBay store… :)

  • +7

    We're having a FIRE!!! sale..

    • +1

      I think I recall reading that woolworths is self-insured otherwise I would suggest that Tobias and mith may have Freudian slipped onto a clever idea.

      • +7

        There is money in the banana stand.

    • it burns

  • +3

    But my kids love their racing car trolley! Had a feeling this was coming since their specials lately have been very competitive to say the least. 50% off this, 50% off that … Something was up.

    • +17

      Maybe they'll sell you one of those trolleys now they don't need them?

      • comment made my evening :')

      • +1

        The person on the exit door never let me wheel those trolleys out to my car, even though I had a kid in it. I'm guessing they go missing often.

    • +1

      Pretty sure they will sell everything off likely they did with dick smith so Im sure you can buy a trolley if you have use for it.

      • Motorised cart here I come!

      • If it's anything like Dick Smith it will have a silly meme on the for sale sign and be priced at twice what it cost new.

      • Only iff its discounted

    • god those trolleys are so freaking hard to steer

  • +4

    Two stores gone in 2016. Lets hope we don't see another go.

    • +2

      Dick Smith was no loss. Masters will be missed.

      In the Dick Smith case, I got a bunch of bargains before they went into receivership, not much after that.

      When will be the bargains at Masters? No receivers obviously.

      • What will happen to all the unsold stock?

        • +3

          Plenty of time to sell….

        • some might go back to lowes if that is cheaper than resupply from China for the American market.

      • +1

        The pre-Woolworths Dick Smith (think Jaycar) was a loss. The final incarnation not so much.

        • +7

          i missed being able to buy actual electronic COMPONENTS instead of staring at a wall of junk PCs and ipads

        • @furythree: sadly leave components part of company cost them company.

        • @nikey2k27:
          I think it was a case of expansion. When Dick sold the business to Woolworths for $25m, they only had 20 shops.
          Retail components is a small business.

        • I remember it fondly but if the original dick smith came back today I wouldn't shop there, I don't even shop at Jaycar because their are an absolute rip off for both components and their cheap low quality plastic junk. The best way to buy components these days is Aliexpress - massive range, dirt cheap and delivered to your door.

    • +2

      Curious as to why I was negged? Maybe some want to see stores close down, lol.

      • +9

        I'd struggle to name another chain I'd really care about if shut down. Maybe Big W.

        I'm tired of this pattern of new players coming in with low prices, dominating over the competition and then lifting prices up to RRP.

        • JB Hifi - done
        • Supercheap Auto - 90% done
        • Chemist warehouse - wait and see
        • Bunnings - fingers crossed prices stay low

        And then stores with constant fake sales

        • Anaconda
        • Kathmandu
        • Myer

        Then

        • Ikea - cheap junk that isn't really cheap (note prices 2-3 times higher than US)

        • All types of homewares and kitchenware are hideously overpriced

        PLEASE AMAZON PLEASE

        • +3

          whats the alternative to ikea? freedom isnt exactly cheap

          Fantastic is cheap price for cheap crap

        • +1

          @furythree:

          whats the alternative to ikea?

          That's the point

        • @furythree:

          Amart furniture isnt bad. Also try gumtree, people seel expensive furniture for cheap all the time on GT. Bought me 2 huge ikea cupboards for $50 each on gt, they work a treat.

        • @furythree: Super Amart is cheap. Crap though.

        • @furythree: Freedom is good when there's a 60% off sale :)

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