Focus on King Island

TASMANIA

King Island is an island in Bass Strait. It is the largest of three islands known as the New Year Group, and the second-largest island in Bass Strait. The island’s population at the 2016 census was 1,585 people, up from 1,566 in 2011.

Wikipedia

Currie, the largest town and administrative centre, is situated on the west coast of the island. Foodworks Currie and IGA Currie independent supermarkets provide groceries & essential goods for the King Island community.

C KI

Located in the centre of Currie, Rosemary Hallett, who is a partowner of this vibrant store, said that this store has been trading for more than 40 years. Rosemary came to KI from NZ in 1985 for three years to be involved with share farming, and she has been a KI resident ever since.

20 years ago, Rosemary began in the supermarket with then-owner Duncan McKenzie and became a partner 14 years ago.

The store is 300 square metres in size and stocks over 5000 SKUs to satisfy the demand of their customers. The store is sparkingly clean, well lit and has been recently upgraded in the refrigeration and freezer departments. There are 13 freezer doors and 14 chiller doors packed with a deep range of food products. The staff are very friendly and helpful. This full-service supermarket – services its customers through its fresh produce dept, meat dept, large delicatessen with ‘meals to go’, salads and dry groceries. There are many locally sourced fresh and gourmet products, including beautiful cheeses, locally grown meat and of course, magnificent crayfish. 30% of total store sales are fresh products, with the store being famous for its fresh fish, oysters and rock lobsters.

Strongly community-minded, Rosemary is Chair of the King Island Chamber of Commerce, set up the local Breakfast Club and is Chair of the Currie Cargo Group which constantly reviews the fairness of freight charges for goods being shipped from the mainland.

Given the location of KI, Foodworks Currie receives food and grocery stocks from the mainland once a week by boat.

There are many risks involved with ordering and delivering groceries and general merchandise depending upon product availability and logistics capability.

Rosemary mentioned that the demographics of KI are changing

Rosemary Hallet (4th from the right) with FoodWorks staff members.

TASMANIA

with the population moving toward a new age in awareness, including the availability of online food and groceries from Tasmania. It has meant that Rosemary and all the staff focus significantly on having the products their customers want in store and providing an exceptional shopping experience.

Challenging for the store is that according to Tasmanian Liquor Licensing Laws, this store cannot sell packaged liquor. The law states that “supermarkets may not sell packaged liquor”—a huge competitive disadvantage for the Foodworks store in Currie. The store has capably overcome this disadvantage by the superb food and grocery range they offer and the outstanding service provided by the staff.

Trading between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm every day of the year, the store employs 20 staff members, 9 of them full time. Most are long-serving staff that take great pride in the work that they do and the service they provide to their customers.

COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns were met with mixed reactions. On the one hand, the people of KI could not travel outside of KI which they were not happy about. On the other hand, the local population stayed on KI, from which the local supermarket benefitted. No retirees moved north for summer! Locals shopped locally, meaning Rosemary was able to keep the business going in all of 2020 without staff having to lose a single hour of work.

A storage facility was created next to the supermarket to store surplus stocks in case COVID-19 restrictions slowed down or stopped food and grocery deliveries. As a community service, the new storage area also accommodated essential COVID-19 quarantine equipment and supplies.

During the COVID lockdown, no one was able to come into KI or leave KI. The locals stayed local. There was no local panic buying – everyone worked together.

Tourism plays a significant role within the local Currie and KI economy. Most people wish to play golf on one of the two world-class golf courses on the island or getaway for a break, explore the island and sample the excellent rock lobster.

Rosemary says that Foodworks Currie is famous for its customer service, its community involvement and providing value and diversity in an ever-changing KI demographic.

MGA wishes Rosemary and all the staff at Foodworks Currie well and a significantly better 2021!

IGA Currie is located in the heart of Currie, the main town on King Island and is owned and operated by Phil and Albertje Jacobsen for 25 years – (Phil photograghed right).

Phil was in Farming and kelp harvesting before switching to retail. Phil explained that kelp is a big industry for KI and has many uses in cooking and pharmaceuticals - there are many kelp drying racks near the Currie township - it takes 6-tonne of wet kelp to make 1 tonne of dry kelp.

The IGA is a large format store - 2000 sq meters in size. A unique business in that it is a one-stop-shop on the island. Offering – grocery, liquor, hardware, tools, building supplies, general merchandise and furniture - all in one premises. It is the only packaged liquor license outlet in Tasmania. This situation emanates from when the pub burnt down in 1965 – this IGA store became the only outlet to be able to sell packaged liquor on the island other than the clubs.

Demographics have changed the last couple of years – the population hasn’t grown much in 25 years – appearing to move towards an ageing population.

The store has a grocery product range of – 14000 SKUs. The aisles are wide, and the shelving very convenient for displaying and purchasing products. The many fridges and freezers stock a wide variety of foods, including beautiful, mouthwatering whole and prepacked King Island crayfish.

Phil employs 30 staff – 50% full time and 50% casual. There is a very strong community spirit in the store and, of course, within the whole KI community.

The store caters for a diverse clientele – they have created a unique shopping experience by offering a wide choice of household and domestic goods through their various departments.

TASMANIA

One of the biggest issues is the cost of freight from the mainland as well as Tassie. Many goods are air freighted – This major cost impacts margins.

As much as possible, the store sources fresh foods and gourmet products from the island. The biggest selling fresh item is naturally, KI Crayfish or Rock Lobsters.

Interestingly, commercial fishing is not carried out from KI; thus, all fresh fish comes in from Tassie.

Fresh meat is sourced locally as much as possible, albeit KI meat is the very best quality and consequently at a premium price to budget cut meats from the mainland.

King Island is well known for its dairy products, particularly the wide range of KI cheeses such as blue, camembert, brie, cheddars, etc. All of which are stocked in the store.

There is no longer a milk-producing dairy on KI, so milk is sourced from either the mainland or Tasmania.

Phil, is committed to the town of Currie and is further investing in a large storage facility to ensure stock levels of food and other goods are kept up to meet local demand

This store has been very supportive of COSBOA’s “go local” campaign – many KI residents have started to purchase their food, groceries and goods online – this is affecting the bricks and mortar stores on the island.

Phil urges the people of KI to buy their food and goods from the island and not to go online. Buying local supports businesses and encourages employee growth and growth of the KI economy.

This business is supporting all the local trades in town and the spin-off is creating many jobs.

MGA wishes Phil & Albertje and staff of IGA Currie well for 2021 and beyond.

The store holds the only packaged liquor license in Tasmania.

IGA Currie provides the island community with a vast and varied one-stop-shop unique business.

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