22 November, 2016. 11:23
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
KNOWN TO MANY A HOLIDAY maker as that whistlestop foot station on Legian Street, the infamous Kuta Beach Bunnings has been selling everything from good times to sausage sandwiches for a close to a decade now.
However, change is in the air for the hardware company’s only Indonesia outlet.
Speaking this afternoon, Bunnings chief-of-operations, Bill Francisco explained that from early 2017, their Kuta Beach megastore will begin transitioning into a more traditional Bunnings operation.
“Providing opportunities for community groups to sell sausage sandwiches at our stores is only a small part of our business model,” said Francisco.
“While the good times will continue to roll at our Legian Street store, we will begin selling hardware, building supplies and other products you might find at your local Bunnings domestically at the Kuta Beach outlet.”
Some of the Bali-centric products that the now-multi-national merchants will begin selling include active charcoal, which is said to help ease methanol poisoning and gauze bandages for the inevitable drunken road rash.
But the current franchise owners of Kuta Beach store aren’t as optimistic, saying that they don’t feel comfortable selling hardware alongside sausage sandwiches to drunken revellers.
Denise Cullbassy moved to Kuta in 2002, escaping the hustle and bustle of Brisbane for a simpler, third-world lifestyle that she’s grown to love. She bought the current franchise from a local family just last year.
“I’m not comfortable selling a nailgun and a steak sanga [sandwich] to somebody out of their mind on Christ knows what,” she said.
“Most people don’t visit a Bunnings while on holiday. This is a tourist district, it doesn’t need a three-acre hardware shop.”
More to come.
