COMING IN handy

BUNNINGS IS THE STORE WE TRUST WHEN IT COMES TO DIY. BUT AS MANAGING DIRECTOR MICHAEL SCHNEIDER EXPLAINS, IT’S ALSO A VERY HANDY LINK TO THE COMMUNITY.

- WENDY KAY

A chat with Michael Schneider is a bit like having a yarn around an Aussie barbie. You bond automatically over common ground, a topic you can easily discuss. Maybe it’s the way the snags are being cooked, the weather, or an observation about the hopeful mutt hovering around for a sausage.

With Michael the conversation inevitably turns to Bunnings, not because this writer is a regular at the homeware stores – in fact, she’s rather intimidated by its vast collections of everything you could ever possibly need for the house and garden – but because, whether you venture inside a store or not, Bunnings is a feel-good household name throughout Australia and New Zealand.

In his role as Managing Director of Bunnings Group, the first thing that strikes you about Michael is his warmth – the same easygoing nature of the Bunnings ‘reds’, the men and women dressed in their natty red shirts framed by forest green aprons who serve us in one of Bunnings’ 380-plus warehouses, stores or trade centres. There’s no pretence, no spin; what you see is exactly what you get. And what you get is a glimpse of the 15-year-old casual who fell in love with retail while working his first job at Target in Sydney’s north.

“I started while still at school as a Thursday night and Saturday casual in Chatswood, pushing trolleys, punching check-outs and doing night fill for general merchandising,” he remembers. “It led to supervisory roles and then an offer of a management traineeship.