I can't understand why the short-lived Woolworth/Lowes hardware chain failed in Aust.

In a word: hubris.

There was certainly room for another big box chain

Clearly there wasn't. Bunnings owns the market (and, like Walmart, all the prime locations) with the Mitre 10 group following up the rear. Whether or not Bunnings should have been allowed to reach that position is moot, however, one of its large acquisitions BBC Hardware was a mess. When BBC took over Nock & Kirby in Sydney CBD that store went to the dogs -- and I went to Pauls.

Yep, but there use to be many little hardwares where you could get different products rather than the run of the mill stuff from Bunnings.
There use to be an old guy who lived in my street and told me when he retired he put every dime / super ..he had into a hardware store!!
Hmm yep , rather a sad story as you can guess.. Bad advice from someone I believe.

Pete

when he retired he put every dime / super ..he had into a hardware store!!

He's not the first or last guy to do that sort of thing. Plenty of people go into retail for the wrong reasons (often they buy a job) and go bust. One guy I know gave up a well paid job at the local Council and bought a Pie Face franchise. He was struggling but then Pie Face went into receivership and he couldn't sell the business for love nor money, so he lost the lot.

Another guy I know gave up a steady job to open a second hand book shop. Why? Because he liked to read. What he should have read is How to Go Broke In Retail, or written it, because he didn't last a year.

Many people have a notion that retail is easy. You open a shop, people come in and buy stuff. What could be simpler? Putting all your cash in a barrel, pouring kero on it and lighting it is easier, faster and the result is the same.

Companies shouldn't chase others for market share unless they have a business plan that would find it difficult to fail, especially when they are entering a market that is already sewn up. Woolworths messed up by partnering with Lowe's because like most foreign retailers, Lowe's could not get an understanding of the Australian market. That's okay, because whilst Woolworths got their heads handed to them in the hardware game, despite being Australia's largest retail conglomerate, Bunnings got their arses kicked in the Mother land when they took over Home Base, the leading British hardware chain.

The funny thing is, if Woolworths went it alone and still had the shrewd businessman, Roger Corbett, at the helm, Masters would have been a success because they'd have hit the ground running with more stores opening at once, had lower prices, kept out of markets that aren't hardware related (I bought a washing machine at the Chullora store and it took two weeks to arrive) and sped up the supply chain instead of making BS excuses for delays and store locations would have been better.

Over in England, the locals were just as accustomed to Home Base's winning formula as we were to Bunnings. When Bunnings went on the un-necessary path to rebranding Home Base stores and changing product lines it was a recipe for disaster.

As for Pie Face, when it opened for the first time I bought a pie and a sausage roll from there and ended up taking only one bite out of each and throwing the rest in the bin. The texture and flavour of them just didn't appeal to me and I am a pie eater from way back. Oddly enough, Pie Face is an American company and Americans do not understand meat pies anymore than Australians could go over there and sell hotdogs.

Thats something I really miss about old Australia ,, Those great Cake shops run by old ladies who know how to Bake ,,, Very hard to find one of those now ,, I dont know where there is one anymore .pete

great Cake shops run by old ladies who know how to Bake

There are a few such pie and cake shops still around in the older strip mall type areas. Many these days are run by Vietnamese, but they usually make good old fashioned pies.

Pete: I suppose you would have been to the famous Upper Crust at Collaroy. I like their pies but they I find that tend to fall apart because of overstuffing and/or weak seams on the tops.

GTC ,,Crust at Collaroy. Ohh Yep !! I dont mind a good Pie or sausage Roll ,,Yep I know they are very bad for you ! But I still like to have one sometimes . Ive not found any good Cake shops in Albury really ...pete

A good shop is hard to come by now. It is also very hard to locate one that sells a good apple turnover or apple charlotte.

Can't understand why the short-lived Woolworth/Lowes hardware chain failed in Aust.

I worked for woolworths at the time. There was great oppertunity for another big hardware chain but the amount of stupid decisions from head office was the downfall. To match bunnings prices I had to use my staff card. Did you also know that magnetmart is part of the Woolworths chain. Yep it was.

I have never heard of Magnetmart but Home Timber and Hardware is/was part of Woolies.

That Bunnings line of "We will beat any competitors price" is a load of rubbish.
All their power tools are made specifically for Bunnings and have a unique model number (AEG etc) so you can't directly compare with other stores.
This practice is also done at bedding stores where mattresses have unique names for that store only.
This nothing short of price fixing and should be addressed by the ACCC but as usual nothing happens.

I think the weakness with the W'worth/Lowes was Lowes. It was a good idea to create another big box format chain in Aust, but from what I see of Lowes in my local area, they are not as successful as the other players, especially considering a very strong regional chain which is privately owned (compared to other public stockmarket listed national chains: Home Depot, Lowes...) Of those - there being at present five big box chains around here - I would say Lowes is struggling, no doubt running at a loss in this region (being supported by their national HQ) and will be the next one to fold after the recent collapse of Sears chain.

That is correct. The same applies to quantities of fasteners, 'home branding' of certain items and size/colour differences.

EG1: If a ten pack of one-inch #10 screws at Mitre 10 costs a fiver and a twelve pack at Bunnings costs 5 ÷ 10 x 13 then the discount will not apply because they don't deem it the same product line, even though they are fleecing you the cost of an extra screw.

EG2: If a 4 litre gas cylinder, painted white is $25 at Bunnings and the same brand, same size at Mitre 10 is painted beige and costs $24, again the discount doesn't apply because of the difference in the colour of the paint.

The only time you will hear from the ACCC is when they are selling out an Australian company by allowing a foreign takeover of it, followed by closure of factories. Think Electrolux's pillage of Email Industries and Southcorp Appliances. Two huge Australian-owned conglomerates wiped out in a matter of minutes.

One good way to see how a company is really doing is to look at their long-term stock chart and apply standard technical-analysis:
So I pull up the chart for Lowes Hardware and have to admit they are "doing well" with valuation about six times that after GFC.
Is this just a lot of froth on the beer one could ask? One telltale is its Price/Earnings ratio of 25 - a bit rich!
Coincidentally, Westfarmers P/E ratio is also 25! A lot of room to fall if latest Aust unemployment is any harbinger?