The highly anticipated joint venture project between Woolworths and US company Lowe’s finally opened its first doors last week in Braybook, Melbourne.

The Masters Home Improvement store opened offering more than 35,000 products at “most prices never seen before in Australia”.

Don Stallings, formerly president of Lowe's Canada and is now CEO Masters Home Improvement, said the store has been created with thought and passion to deliver an overall customer experience.

“We’ve created paint displays modeled on cosmetic counters to help you pick your perfect colour scheme, scoured the globe to bring you Honda engine lawnmowers for less than $500 and sourced handmade Italian porcelain tiles at a bargain price. We’ve literally left no stone unturned to deliver quality, range, value and service on a scale that will really surprise,” he said.

According to the company, the store stocks the widest paint colour choices, finishes and effects in the southern hemisphere with ‘pixel perfect’ mixing technology, as well as European designer kitchens and accessories at flat pack prices.

In the store, there are also easy to follow ‘how to’ guides while there are 35 customer service call buttons and seven service desks. Multi-function checkouts have also been designed to be easily switched from manned to self-service.

“My friendly, approachable store team have received more than 10,000 hours of training to ensure they are ready and able to help customers solve an array of common DIY problems,” Braybrook store manager Andrew Guy said.

“Our job is to assist customers to find everything they need to complete their project on time and on budget so please come and put us to the test.”

An extensive drive through trade area caters to the needs of busy professionals and also offers outstanding value, service and quality.  Trade customers will find familiar brands as well as exclusive products from the world’s best trade suppliers. 

The store will host community BBQ events every weekend and is also home to a McDonald’s and McCafe with playground. 

There are currently 20 stores under construction across Australia.  

While RetailBiz was not invited to the media launch last Thursday, we hope to be able to report first-hand when the first Masters opens in Sydney.