HARDWARE chain Bunnings will celebrate the opening of its second Launceston store tomorrow night with live entertainment, games and a fireworks display.
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The celebration marks the end of almost a year of demolition and construction of the new 16,000-square-metre, $47 million retail centre on the former site of the Gunns headquarters in Lindsay Street.
The store has also provided 170 jobs for the region, 150 of which involve people new to the company.
Complex manager Cheryl Heit said 40 staff members were young people who had started their working career with the company.
She said former builders, electricians, plumbers and other tradespeople had been employed along with two qualified horticulturalists.
Ms Heit said there were several other mature-aged staff on the team.
``The knowledge that they bring to the store, and the training they will bring for the young ones is invaluable,'' she said.
About 20 people have been transferred from the Bunnings Kings Meadows store.
Bunnings is owned by Wesfarmers which is Woolworths' main rival in the hardware marketplace.
Woolworths owned two Becks Hardware stores in Launceston, not far from Lindsay Street.