Officeworks Pinpoint magazine 29 | Page 6

Bringing our biggest store to life Officeworks Mentone (Vic) is one of the boldest projects in Officeworks’ history. Not only is the store the biggest in the Officeworks’ network at 6500 sqm (four times the size of the average Officeworks store), it’s what we believe to be the biggest office supplies store in the world! While the seed of the idea was planted three years ago by a small team lead by Phil Bishop, it was brought to life by many team members from across every department in the business, not to mention all the external suppliers and partners that have all played their role in growing it from the ground up and making customers aware of it. Internally, the team was led by Kevin Allman (Merchandise Business Manager — Sourcing and Quality), supported by Project Manager Dilshan Gunasekara. Kevin said: ‘We know from experience, our larger the stores are the most profitable and resonate most with our customers. A larger store allows us to intensify Officeworks’ three pillars of price, range and service, and create a really compelling destination. The Merchandise Expansion Projects have fuelled comparable store growth and given us the confidence to go beyond our 1300 square metre foot print and test the customer appetite for a significantly larger store.’ A larger store allows us to intensify Officeworks’ three pillars of price, range and service, and create a really compelling destination. 6 ‘To be a successful retailer today, we need an offer that extends beyond the product with compelling, interactive experiences where customers can interact with the range. With Mentone, we have delivered exactly that in the areas of Educational Resources, Art, Print, Copy & Create, Furniture and Technology. And in a network first, we’ve even added an on-site café and children’s playground,’ he said. Mentone is also an integral part of Officeworks’ every channel strategy, acting as another fulfilment centre, enabling us to offer faster, more compelling and convenient delivery options to customers. It expands Officeworks’ same-day delivery capability, providing customers in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs of Beaconsfield, Officer, Clyde, Langwarrin and Pakenham, same- day delivery for the first time. The store has employed more than 160 new team members from the local community, and is led by Senior Store Business Manager, Gren John Britto, and six SLT including Grant, Natalia, Hayley, Adam, Pranav, Manny, plus Business Specialists