Retail update: Mitre 10
Sunshine Mitre 10 Gympie marks 10 years
Petrie's Mitre 10 in Dubbo (NSW) has officially opened its new drive through trade centre following a soft launch
Fri Sep 09 2022
The Mitre 10 store in Gympie (QLD) that is part of the Sunshine Mitre 10 network recently celebrated its tenth birthday. Its team of more than 40 employees had some fun with local customers from the Gympie community.
Marketing operations manager Nick Brindt said the store's success comes down to several factors. He told Gympie Today:
It's a culmination of many things to be honest, the quality of our staff and their experience, being invested in helping grow and support not only the Gympie community, but surrounding region whether that be through sponsorships, donations, major local events, school groups or something simple like carrying a heavy product and loading it into a customer's vehicle.
Over the past decade, there have been some memorable moments and colourful characters. For Mr Brindt, it was the fortitude he witnessed first-hand during the floods. He said:
The resilience of this great community and banding together of people to recover from multiple flood devastations, and knowing we play a very small part in helping rebuild Gympie and the surrounding region - it's humbling.
In that time, they also get to know their customers. Mr Brindt said:
All our customers brighten our day. We have a very loyal trade base of builders who love turning up at 6am in the cold for a barbecue brekkie...
And we have our regular DIY customers that visit our nursery every week to talk with Glenda our garden expert. We are blessed to have such a genuine and loyal customer base.
Like many hardware stores, the team at Sunshine Mitre 10 Gympie are generous with the various sponsorships, donations and fundraising events they get involved in in the community. Mr Brindt said:
To be honest, there are too many groups to list. We do our best to support as many groups throughout the region, and believe that we play an important role in supporting these groups, as these group are the life blood in regional locations.
We also believe it's so important to develop, support and grow the next generation. And with the recent floods of 2022, we donated $40,000 in building materials between various community groups, and local families.
At the end of the day, that's what the business is all about, according to Mr Brindt.
The most enjoyable part is knowing that we play a pivotal role in the Gympie community, and knowing a lot of our customers on a first name basis.
If you were to ask all our staff, they would say our customers are the best part.
Petries Mitre 10 Dubbo
Brad Petrie, manager of Petrie's Mitre 10 Dubbo is keen to know what people are thinking about the new trade facility after the team put a lot of effort into preparing it for opening. He told Dubbo Photo News:
The shop has been opened all month and it has been going really well.
Petrie's Mitre 10 Trade Centre Dubbo is located at 62 Fitzroy Street, Dubbo (NSW).
Mr Petrie and the team also paid tribute to Malcolm Petrie who sadly passed away aged 90 in late August, on the day of the Dubbo trade centre launch. Mitre 10 staff formed guard of honour for their colleague as the hearse passed by Mudgee's Mitre 10, according to the Mudgee Guardian and Gulgong Advertiser.
There have been ongoing tributes from local and business communities around Mudgee and the Central West for Malcolm since his passing. Malcolm's daughter Annette remembered her father as a kind and generous man. She told the Mudgee Guardian:
His kindness, strong intellect, love of people, sense of fairness, humor, shone through in whatever he did. He connected with people; he saw the best in people.
She said the outpouring of love for her father has been overwhelming.
...The respect shown from our local community and beyond has been incredible. The beautiful comments on Facebook, the caring, respectful words from people we would meet in the street, the phone calls, the flowers. It has been unbelievable. We knew our father as a wonderful presence in our family and we also knew what a friendly, well-known man he was in our community.
Dad never sought acknowledgment of who he was or what he did, he was just a good man. The past few weeks and the response to dad's death has shone a light on that fact, that he was a good man, a good friend, a respected member of our community.
The hardware store carrying his namesake, opened in Mudgee in October 1986. Liam Collier, business development manager at the Independent Hardware Group remembered Malcolm as a titan of the industry and a great bloke. He said:
Mal had many years serving on Advisory Councils. He quite enjoyed seeing the workings of Mitre 10 and the responsibility of setting direction for the brand. He even represented the brand on TV commercials when Paul Cronin was the Mitre 10 frontman, and was generally recognised as one of the faces of Mitre 10 NSW ... Mal gave his guidance, his mentorship and his cooperation towards other Mitre 10 members and suppliers...
He will be sadly missed by the Mitre 10 families across Australia, but we are very grateful for the time he gave to our brand, and the amazing family that remains to continue his work.
Related
Petrie's Mitre 10 plans to open a trade centre from its Dubbo (NSW) store - HNN Flash #95, May 2022