MORE than 200 employees of the state’s 10 Home Timber and Hardware sites face an uncertain future after Woolworths announced on Monday it was selling the franchise as a going concern.
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An internal email from Woolworths Ltd chief executive Grant O’Brien sent to staff of Home Timber and Hardware and Masters stores throughout the nation explained that the company could no longer sustain the losses incurred by the home improvement businesses.
‘‘The process of selling the businesses will take some months, during which we will continue to trade,’’ he said.
‘‘If there are parts of the business we cannot sell, we will be forced to close them.
‘‘If that is the case, we will seek to find opportunities for impacted home improvement employees in the broader Woolworths group including supermarkets, BIG W, Dan Murphy’s and BWS.’’
Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association state secretary Paul Griffin said Monday’s announcement was of concern but said the union would keep in contact with employees throughout the sale process.
Dorset mayor Greg Howard said Woolworths’ decision to sell was disappointing, particularly for the eight to 10 staff at Scottsdale’s Becks Home Timber and Hardware store. ‘‘It’s typical of a large multinational company where they don’t care too much about consumers and it’s all about profit for them,’’ he said.
Mr O’Brien told employees that all gift cards, product warranties, refunds and lay-bys would be honoured.
John Dank and Sons, a subsidiary of Woolworths Ltd, paid $40 million for Gunns Ltd’s five Tasmanian hardware stores and the Becks Timber and Hardware businesses in 2010.
Shop locations include Launceston, Scottsdale, George Town and Deloraine.
The two Launceston stores were consolidated in August 2014.