LAUNCESTON will be included in a $1.5 billion splurge by Bunnings to open a reported 85 new stores around the country by 2015.
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Wesfarmers, which also owns Coles and Kmart, said it was still in the early stages of planning its second Launceston Bunnings.
Last year the company entered negotiations to buy the Gunns headquarters on Lindsay Street. The site was bought from the Launceston City Council in 2002 for $1.1 million.
It was reported last year that Wesfarmers would build the Bunnings store at the location but yesterday the company would not confirm this.
It is understood the sale of the five-hectare property is dependent on the company receiving building approval for a Bunnings there.
Bunnings property development manager Andrew Marks said the company was already in ``the early planning stages for a second store in Launceston''.
Wesfarmers' large capital investment in new stores, estimated to create 6000 jobs, comes as rival Woolworths looks to open 150 of its own hardware stores under the banner Masters.
The hardware chain was launched late last year to cash in on the lucrative home improvement market but so far there are no plans for a Tasmanian venture.
