"I didn't think about it too much. You're here to do a job and build respect and trust with people... It's about building a team."
Coombes arranged to meet at the $37 million Bunnings Warehouse at Glenfield which stands provocatively in front of the Mega Mitre 10 on Archers Rd, the Bunnings back wall facing Mitre 10's carpark.
Coombes calls that store her local, where a stocktake of a daunting 45,000 items kept many staff through until 10pm the night before.
That same day, Coombes noted the new rules in the Building Act 2004 to encourage better building design and construction under the Government's Licensed Building Practitioner scheme.
She has specialised in retail, here and in Britain. Born in Papakura, her British migrant parents left Lancashire to follow their dreams but that all changed when she was three and her grandmother got sick.
"Mum wanted to go home so we went back to the UK and I started work there. I was married very young." Only when pressed does she admit she was 16.
The mother of Kelly, Rebecca and Matt has eight grandchildren who she is close to, one daughter living with her and husband Simon at Riverhead.
"My girls are here and my son is 22 and living in Melbourne. Simon also has a son Jared, 17. He works in the new Bunnings Hawera store."
The daughter of a GP remembers about five primary schools in Britain. Secondary was at Lancashire's Skerton, following by having a family with employment "always in retail".
"Mum was a nurse and studied after having us for her qualifications; we were very proud of her."
In Britain, she worked at Texaco with its large service station complexes and ran Bloody Oaks outside Peterborough, then moved to German-owned supermarket chain Aldi around the Leighton Buzzard, Luton and West London areas.
In 1997 she returned to New Zealand, having answered a small ad in a grocery magazine for store managers in a New Zealand supermarket chain, which turned out to be Woolworths.
"I wanted to return to my roots and had a hankering to come back so I answered it." She started at Wool-worths in New Plymouth then Mast-erton, moving to Big Fresh in Henderson then Woolworths Grey Lynn.
"The big change was adapting to the different culture. I'd been working in London but here, people are a lot more open and warm."
Then she shifted to privately owned craft, furnishings and fabric chain Spotlight, where she worked for four and a half years, initially as general manager for New Zealand then for Australia and New Zealand, as general manager of operations in a role stretching to Singapore running new store openings, property, relocations and risk prevention.
During her time, Spotlight opened at Mt Wellington opposite Sylvia Park and she says the business is particularly strong in New Zealand compared to a more challenging environment in Australia where it competes with Lincraft.
"In New Zealand, it's the range and offering that makes Spotlight different," she says, citing stores of 2500sq m and comparing those to the smaller, more traditional furnishings and fabric shops Kiwis are used to.
Late last year, she took over at Bunnings from Rod Caust, an Australian now working at Bunnings in Brisbane.
She's arrived in a rapid expansion phase. Bunnings is opening three new stores this year, and plans to build two more, from Silverdale to New Plymouth and Blenheim. One aspect of the business which astonishes her is the long employment terms.
"I've celebrated a few 25 years," she says, of people who worked at the Benchmark Building Supplies business which Bunnings bought to get its entree here in 2001. "And I've done one 46 years".
As a girl growing up in Britain, she recalls desperately wanting a pony but also that it was usually the domain of the wealthy.
So it's with joy that she tells of having three horses in New Zealand. Now, there's just Toad. She loves the Woodhill State Forest and Kumeu area but most of all, the surprises.
"You get on a horse, you don't know what's going to happen. It's different from work."
Jacqui Coombes
Age: 47
Position: General manager, Bunnings NZ
* Married to Simon
* Three children, eight grandchildren
Education: Skerton, Lancashire, Britain
Tertiary: Graduate Diploma Business Studies, majoring in human resources, Massey University (extramural)
* In charge of 3000+ employees
