LUCIANO Silvestri was up at the crack of dawn and first in line when the doors slid open at Queanbeyan Kmart on Wednesday, November 14.
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Mr Silvestri, an Amaroo resident, drove across the border and arrived at 6am - two hours before the store was set to open. He was later joined by his brother-in-law and friend.
"I'm in Queanbeyan three days a week and I wanted to be here for the grand opening," Mr Silvestri said.
"I always go to Kmart in Belconnen."
The trio was especially interested in purchasing a limited edition line of Hot Wheel trucks known as the "Treasure Hunt" series.
Only 12 cars feature in this series per year, with one released monthly.
"I wanted to check out all the specials and stuff like that but particularly the Skylander and Hot Wheel cars," he said.
"These 'Treasure Hunt' cars are made in very small quantities."
The father of three has been collecting Hot Wheel cars for about five years and has thousands in his collection.
He and he friends cleaned out the store and none of the "Treasure Hunt" Hot Wheel cars are left on display.
Mr Silvestri said he was impressed with the new store.
He received a gift voucher and show bag for his early bird efforts and said a small line assembled about 15 minutes before the store opened.
"I like the lay-out of this store," he said. "I think it will do quite well especially because of the opening hours until midnight, it's going to have a huge impact on Queanbeyan," he said.