Bunnings Hawthorn is now open.
When Bunnings Melbourne CBD closed and the site was redeveloped, part of me died. The closest Bunnings was either Northland or Box Hill, and both were 10K away. When I sold my car in March 2007, visiting either of these was out of the question. The only choice was to catch a train to Nunawading and then walk 2k to the closest one there.
Port Melbourne opened but that was also inconvenient (though it is close to the 109 tram).
So when we discovered that the site being redeveloped on Burwood Road (a mere 900 metres from my house), I prayed, and I prayed. I'm not religious, but my prayers were answered, because one day I walked by and saw a big sign proclaiming "Bunnings Warehouse" amongst the construction. And I shouted to the stars because it was GOOD.
Since the store was apparently finished on the outside a month or so ago, I've been watching, and waiting. Finally I could see shelving inside... and then stock starting to go up. So I knew it was only a matter of time before it would open... they would be mad not to open and take advantage of the Christmas silly season, GFC be damned.
Well this morning I logged into the Bunnings Website as I've been doing for the last month. I typed in my postcode... and my heart missed a beat, because it was OPEN.
Finally tonight we arrived there for a brief dalliance at 8:10PM. 50 minutes (they closed at 9) was nowhere near long enough. We (my partner and I) were in a trance... it was like manna from heaven. All the shelves, full of wonderful, wonderful products. A MASSIVE outdoor garden section at the rear. Lighting, paint, hardware, plumbing... it's simply to good to be true. All sorts of cool home automation stuff. I did not even dare enter the power tool section as I may have collapsed.
We were in such a state that we did not even make one purchase, because there was just to much choice to be had. We have had to come home to collect ourselves and will try again tomorrow night.
The place however was basically deserted when we got there, so to have the entire place almost to ourselves was rather amazing as well. Highly recommended.
One thing is for sure... with this, and the impending opening of MSY in North Melbourne, I never have to go to zone 2 again if I don't want to.
Thankyou to the retail gods for blessing this hardware junky. I don't however think my credit card feels the same way.
