Brad and Rochelle Meikle, owners of SuperValue Featherston, which was awarded ‘Store of the Year’ at the MyWDL Excellence Awards. PHOTO/ARTHUR HAWKES
ARTHUR HAWKES
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Featherston’s SuperValue has been named the best store in the country at the recent Wholesale Distributors Limited [WDL] awards. WDL operates the SuperValue and FreshChoice supermarket franchises.
Husband and wife team Brad and Rochelle Meikle own and run the store, which they bought two years ago. Brad is also part of the brand management committee for SuperValue across the country.
Tyler and Maddie, their adult children, also work in the store.
He said the win was “very cool”, and “absolutely a team effort”.
While the store was commended highly by residents throughout covid-19 and the lockdown, putting distancing measures in place quickly and effectively, Brad said the award was a longer-term achievement based on a host of different stats.
“The award’s not just taken on a snippet of Level 4 or Level 3, but it’s taken from a number of audits around food safety, health and safety, the culture inside the store, sales.
“The whole team environment and team training is audited on, which is done from head office.
“Since Rochelle and I have been here, we’ve really pushed hard to have a team environment and a family feel in the business.
As well as its service, Featherston SuperValue is well known for its wide selection of quality meats, which was something Brad built up from scratch after buying the store, utilising more than 30 years of experience in butchery – this also created three extra positions at the store.
“When we bought the store there was no butchery in here, so we invested heavily in that.
“There are three full-timers in the butchery, plus myself.”
Rochelle takes charge of the beer and wine, which comprises a good selection of beer and wine, with the Bottle-O next door serving spirits.
“Thanks to Rochelle, we’ve got a lot of great craft beers and really good wine.”
The pair said they were “super proud” of the team for achieving the win, which counts them as the best of all the WDL stores in the country.
