Masters and Bunnings - What Does It Mean To Diggers Rest?

Construction of stage three of the Sunbury Business Park on Vineyard Rd is in full swing, with work on the  Masters Hardware site well underway.

It marks the beginning of a hardware competition war between the chains in our area.

Bunnings is set to close its store in McDougall Rd and move across the street into the business park with its competitor. Bunnings chief operating officer Peter Davis said plans for the new 15,000sqm development were before Hume Council. "The development would represent an investment of over $33 million and, once open, would create over 65 new positions, as well as continued employment for all current team members at the Sunbury store," he said. "The development also creates over 235 construction jobs."

The Sunbury Business Park will be located near a proposed second train station within the recently expanded Urban Growth Zone.

What will it mean to Diggers Rest? The hardware stores, with the remaining business park, is expected to create hundreds of employment opportunities. What will traffic be like along Vineyard Road? Will hardware competition overcome the monopoly prices of the existing Bunnings?

Certainly the development will link Sunbury and Diggers in a new way - almost removing the last unpopulated land. The American corporations must be expecting a population boom to warrant their investments.

Posted in: Opinion