Thread: Carba-Tec Victoria Update - Location

They mustnt have bought the glue from CT Vic, cause theyd still be waiting for it.


Al

glued the door locks

thats a sticky situation

Originally Posted by ozwinner

They mustnt have bought the glue from CT Vic, cause theyd still be waiting for it.


Al

Probably from Brissie with 10 % of and free freight.


Peter.

CT .... could you outline what went into choosing the location?
I am just interested to see why so many retailers are focused towards the East, basically making it a waste of time for a majority of Northerners and Westerners to make the journey.

Also any idea on what the operating hours are on the weekend? I find atht a number of stores that are aimed towards the weekend woodworker exclude them from shopping as they are only open for 3 hrs on a Saturday morning making it very difficult for a full time worker to access, especially from the other side of town.

I am not trying to start an argument re the location or the opening hours, just interested to see the thoughts of the retailer.

I really couldnt see myself doing business with CT again, especially after the farce with the last effort in Vic.

And Springvale!!??, it might be quicker to drive to QLD for me ( and safer ), and I live in the northen subs' of Melb.
How come you picked Springvale?
Al

Originally Posted by ozwinner

.......it might be quicker to drive to QLD for me ( and safer ), and I live in the northen subs' of Melb..........

So when can we expect you Al? If you make it next week you can swing by Gary Pye's and meet some of us Queenslanders

Mick

Yup, cheaper and quicker for me to buy over the internet. The Richmond store was ideal, never went to the Bayswater store. Springvale is too far for me.

Grunt

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

So when can we expect you Al? If you make it next week you can swing by Gary Pye's and meet some of us Queenslanders

Mick

Id love to Mick, but you know how it is, either too much time and no money, or to much money and no time.

Its the former at the moment

Al

What's the latter like?

Reeeeeal good when you can get it.

Its been a while though.

Al

I reckon Springvale is a good move. Bayswater was good for me too. It all depends on where you are. Maybe there's room for 2 stores, one south, one north. I don't see why not.

I doubt if there is a single location that suits everyone.

If the service, range of products and prices are right, then people will travel.

If the range of products and prices are comparable to other places in a city then people will shop where it is convenient.

If the service is unreliable then people go out of their way to shop anywhere else and rarely come back.

If Carba-Tec own and run the new store in Melbourne and their service is comparable their service in other states then I am sure many former customers will return no matter where the store is located.

I hope they prosper in Melbourne and regain their former good name.

Originally Posted by Sir Stinkalot

CT .... could you outline what went into choosing the location?
I am just interested to see why so many retailers are focused towards the East, basically making it a waste of time for a majority of Northerners and Westerners to make the journey.

Also any idea on what the operating hours are on the weekend? I find atht a number of stores that are aimed towards the weekend woodworker exclude them from shopping as they are only open for 3 hrs on a Saturday morning making it very difficult for a full time worker to access, especially from the other side of town.

I am not trying to start an argument re the location or the opening hours, just interested to see the thoughts of the retailer.

Hi Stinky,

Here are the reasons why we selected Springvale:

1) It's the only location we found with sufficient showroom/warehousing space, parking space and space to unload containers (and closest possible proximity to Melbourne CBD).
2) Available properties we found closer to the CBD were too small and too inaccessible for container trucks, parking, etc. Even at near-best-fit proportions (which we didn't find), they'd leave absolutely no room for growth.
3) If we'd picked a location in the western suburbs people from the eastern suburbs would be complaining. No real win available with regard to this.

Incidentally, this is not just a Victoria-specific problem. Even here in Brisbane (where we're currently about 3k from the CBD) we are quickly outgrowing our current facilities that were perfectly adequate five years ago, but where we’re now encountering the quadruplicate (warehousing/showroom/parking/container-unloading) problem that we'd also be facing if we relocated somewhere like Richmond.

For the new Victoria shop we carried out an extensive search and we simply couldn't come up with a central location that was feasible. The old parts of Australia’s major cities (ie. CBD areas) don’t feature a wealth of available commercial properties that have ample showroom space AND ample warehousing space AND ample parking / container unloading space. Our industry is a bit on the exacting end with all of these requirements.

You might note also that a few other vendors within our market (ie. competitors) are situated within a few k of our new location.

Regarding working hours on Saturday, all Carba-Tec stores typically open during these hours (normally from 8 or 9 o’clock until 12 or 1 o’clock). We're not big-box retailers, meaning we have smaller numbers of staff and we still have to allow our staff a reasonable number of weekends per month (the idea being that they work half a Saturday once or twice per month). They work hard and we do our best to treat them right.

Anyway, thanks for voicing your queries - hope this sheds a bit of light.

-CT

Springvale is less than 10 k from the geographical centre of Melbourne. It makes perfect business sense to put a business east of town.