New Toowoomba Officeworks store to open in Harristown, along with KFC, Starbucks, Provincial Home Living

WATCH: Officeworks has hired dozens of new people to work in what is now its biggest store in southeast Queensland. Here’s a sneak peek at what customers can expect:

Toowoomba’s new Officeworks will include more than 10,000 extra products and feature services the retail giant has not offered in the Garden City before.

Preparations are under way for major celebrations on Wednesday to mark the opening of the new location as part of a $32m commercial precinct on the corner of James and West Streets in Harristown.

Officeworks will be joined by KFC, Starbucks and Provincial Home Living at the precinct, which was developed by Dan Cooper and Rob Weymouth over the course of nearly five years.

The massive 2500 sqm warehouse, which is almost double the size of the old location on Hume Street in the CBD, makes it the largest Officeworks in southeast Queensland.

Getting ready for the opening of the new Officeworks Toowoomba on the corner of James and West Streets are (from left) store coordinator Tracey Eade, store manager Tina Foelz and store coordinator Stacey Peterson.

Toowoomba store manager Tina Foelz, who has been with the business for more than a decade, said she was taken aback when she walked through the doors in late January.

“Huge – that was my first thought, walking through the door – ‘huge’,” she said.

“Compared to the other store it is much bigger in size, which is great because that means that we’re going to have a lot more to offer customers in our community.

“We’ve got about 10,000 more products in store than what we have in the old store.”

Officeworks has added dozens of extra staff to meet the expected demand, with Ms Foelz noting the site would include new services that customers didn’t have before.

Getting ready for the opening of the new Officeworks Toowoomba on the corner of James and West Streets is store manager Tina Foelz and her team.

“We’ve created 25 more positions in the Toowoomba team — we started last year recruiting before our big back to school rush, but also knowing that we would be moving into a bigger store, so total team wise, we’re at 67,” she said.

“We’ve got an expanded art section, so we’re going to be able to offer a bigger range now for all those creative customers out there, technology has also expanded, featuring Apple, Samsung and Microsoft and the furniture range has also expanded.

“The more exciting part also is with our Print and Create, where we’ll be able to offer same-day printing.

“That means that we’ll be able to do a lot more printing services at a local level, rather than actually having them shipped up from elsewhere.”

Getting ready for the opening of the new Officeworks Toowoomba on the corner of James and West Streets is store manager Tina Foelz.

Ms Foelz said the new location would also solve the most pressing issue customers had with the original store.

“That is the most popular question we had from customers at the other store – is the car park going to be bigger?” she said.

“Absolutely it is – this car park, there’s about 150 car parks.”

All four tenants in the Officeworks precinct open tomorrow with a family fun day, featuring games and activities for kids.