Fresh in this issue...
Page 2 • Outstanding effort • Kaiapoi • Moorhouse Page 3 • New Brighton • Northwood • Eastgate • Church Corner • Ferrymead • Page 4 • Northlands • Colombo St. • The Palms • Getting help
From me... ...to you
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t may be an old cliché, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Things could hardly have been tougher for our Christchurch staff in the past few weeks. No-one embarks on a career in food retailing expecting to turn up for work and be confronted with piles of ruined groceries all over the floor and rivers of alcohol and broken glass. But that was the scene that confronted our managers and staff on 4 September after the big Christchurch earthquake. All of you responded with extraordinary toughness and showed great resilience
September 2010 to get on with the job, clear up the mess and re-stock, then open our stores for the people of Christchurch. Many of you put aside the personal tragedy of losing your own home to turn up for work in a wonderful display of commitment and responsibility. Our stores and our staff played a vitally important role supplying the Christchurch community with much needed groceries in the face of the disaster. You’ve demonstrated a commitment to your job and your community that’s inspirational. And you’ve continued that commitment despite the aftershocks, too many sleepless nights and many personal difficulties. I can’t thank you enough for your efforts in the last few weeks – what great staff this company has, and what a wonderful job you’ve done!
Canterbury Earthquake Special Edition
Countdown major sponsor of Canterbury earthquake fundraiser
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TV One's Tamati Coffey, Pippa Wetzell and Paul Henry brought some fun to the lives of Christchurch residents at the Countdown-sponsored Breakfast for Canterbury.
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One and Countdown brought some much needed light relief to thousands of Cantabrians at its Breakfast for Canterbury which was broadcast live from Cathedral Square on 24 September. Furthering its support for Christchurch and Canterbury's people, Countdown was the major sponsor of the broadcast, which featured bands and singers including Scribe, The Feelers, J
Williams, Stellar and Kids of 88. TV One Breakfast presenters Paul Henry, Pippa Wetzell and Weatherman Tamati Coffey chatted to national and local leaders, including PM John Key and Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker. As well as brightening the lives of Christchurch residents the broadcast raised funds for earthquake relief, with buckets being rattled in Auckland and Wellington.
Bush Inn
collective sense of humour has been a big factor in helping the team at Bush Inn Countdown cope with the earthquake and its aftermath. “We really had a lot of laughs,” said Store Manager Penny Hardaker, adding tongue-in-cheek that the fumes from the vast pool of alcohol all over the floor on the morning of the quake might have had something to do with it. Alcohol was only the beginning of a mess that took the hardworking team of 15 staff most of Saturday to clean up. “They were like little robots. I’ve never seen people work so hard and so efficiently in all my life,” said Penny. The first few days of continual aftershocks were traumatic and tiring but by the end of the week as they grew less frequent things started looking up. Penny is full of praise for her resilient staff. “They’ve blown me away with everything they’ve done for me this week.”
Fresh Outstanding effort by all our staff by Paul Bradsworth, Regional Manager, Southern
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’ve always told my friends that it takes a special person to work in food retailing, the commitment of our teams has always amazed me over the years. Again through this traumatic experience our team have stepped up to the plate and gone above and beyond, to get our stores up and running. I received my first phone call on that fateful Saturday at 4.45am to advise that an Earthquake had hit Christchurch. Coming from North Queensland I was accustomed to flood, fire and cyclones but not earthquakes. So I was not aware of what we were going to be dealing with. Once I arrived in Christchurch and started to take in the sites and stories of what had occurred, I was again amazed at our store teams. Some who had lost houses arrived at their shop to help to get it open for the customers of Christchurch. Others said “I’ve got damage but there are people worse off than me.” Hearing the banter between the teams and trying to deal not only with their own grief or other family worries, but then wave after wave of customers as they came in looking for supplies. It was an outstanding effort by all. So after 28yrs in retail I can still say we have very special and dedicated people in our company. I was so proud of the entire team and business response to the earthquake; it just makes you proud to work for this company. Again thank you so much for your efforts not only over the last week but the continued effort that will be required in the coming weeks.
Special Edition
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Alcohol everywhere at Moorhouse Countdown
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tore manager Shane Langton had steeled himself for the worst when he arrived at his Moorhouse Countdown store after the quake, but nothing could have prepared him for the devastation inside. While the building was fine, with just a few cracks in the plaster and some lighting problems, the floor was a great mess of colour with spilt groceries and alcohol everywhere. A few staff had started on the massive clean-up but the numbers soon swelled to about 30, with Green Acres cleaning also helping out. By 1.30pm the store was ready to open. Luckily the power remained on as did the water initially. But when the water later failed portaloos were ordered. Then, just as they were about to be delivered, the water was restored. So how did the staff cope? “They’ve been extremely resilient. Some have coped very well while
Although traumatised from the quake, children still find time to play in the aftermath. This crack in River road, Avonside shows the extent of some of the damage.
others have needed some support, but people are always available to help and people should get help if they need it,” said Shane.
Shovels at dawn in Kaiapoi clean-up
William Street Kaiapoi: While liquefaction from the earthquake destroyed many Kaiapoi homes and businesses, the Countdown store suffered only superficial damage.
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aiapoi was particularly hard hit by the earthquake with extensive liquefaction destroying many homes. Fourteen members of our Countdown staff had their homes destroyed yet many showed extraordinary commitment by turning up for work on Saturday for the massive clean-up. Despite the destruction elsewhere, the store suffered only superficial damage. “There were piles and piles of glass and a red sea of wine and I just put my head in my hands and thought
‘how are we going to clean up this mess’,” said Acting Store Manager Murray Leckie. But with help from the families of staff members and even members of the public the store was re-opened on Sunday. Emergency power got things running again, but broken pipes put the water out of action for several weeks. However at the time of writing, Kaipoi Countdown was more-or-less back to business as usual.
Fresh
Special Edition Cleaning up one aisle at a time
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Many vehicles were crushed under debris. This van was outside the Methodist Church in Rugby St, Papanui, when the quake hit.
Countdown hit hard at Northwood
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orthwood Countdown was one of our worst hit stores with severe cracking in the walls and floor and a big problem with liquefaction. Saturday’s clean-up lasted all day with the store opening for business again on the following day. “The effort and dedication of our staff was amazing,” said store manager Darren Hawker. Getting stock has been a problem but things were improving at the time of writing. “People are a bit on edge at the moment. As each aftershock hits they look at each other. Some customers
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hen Ferrymead store manager Colin Taylor walked through the door at 5.00am following the earthquake he was confronted with devastation. An exceptional team effort by the staff saw the store open at 11.30 in the morning. “The team has been fantastic – they’re frightened to hell, but they’ve done a wonderful job of getting the place cleaned up and we’ve been so busy, it’s been like Christmas eve every day of the week – every day’s been record takings,” Colin said. “There’s some amazing people out there in our company who’ve done amazing jobs. They all turned up to work to get this shop up and running,”.
have not always been easy to deal with, which is understandable given everyone’s stress and lack of sleep, but the staff have dealt with it well, A lot of the staff have lost homes but they’ve still turned up for work and I’d just like to say thanks for their efforts,” Darren said.
Water off, so Eastgate Countdown sells water
ike most of our stores, Eastgate stood up to the quake exceptionally well with little damage other than a couple of cracks in the floor. But when store manager Aaron Murray arrived to inspect things immediately after the quake he was confronted by a real mess. But he sprung into action, ringing all his department managers who summoned the staff to help with the cleanup and 30-40 people put in a huge effort to get the shop ready to open by 10.00am. “Everyone did a really good job,” said Aaron. However with the water knocked out and no toilets available the shop had to remain closed until 1.00pm
when the water came back on. Ironically the store was still able to sell water to customers before reopening, limiting them to two litres per person.
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New Brighton staff supporting each other
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he New Brighton area was hit particularly hard by the earthquake and tragically seven New Brighton staff members have lost their homes. However the New Brighton Countdown building withstood the quake extremely well. Inside, however, staff were confronted with a massive challenge. “It was a huge mess but we got people in here on the Saturday and got it all cleaned up,” said New Brighton store manager Carol Reither. After a massive nine hour effort from staff and their families the store opened at 3.00pm and within a few days things were back to normal. Carol said she’s been very impressed by people’s commitment and the way they’ve come together and supported each other in the crisis. “It’s been absolutely fantastic – people left their homes on Saturday to come here and clean this up – that commitment is absolutely unbelievable,” she said.
Liquor everywhere at Church Corner
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ompared to our other Countdown stores, Church Corner Countdown in Riccarton came through the quake comparatively unscathed, though staff were still confronted by a mess of groceries and the lake of spilt liquor all over the floor so painfully familiar to our other stores. A big staff effort saw the doors open at 11.00 with trading so brisk that Church Corner had the highest turnover of any store in the country on the day. “We sold lots of liquor, chips and soft drinks – all the essentials of life,” said Store Manager Regan Austin with a laugh. He’s very grateful for his outstanding efforts that got things back to normal so quickly after the quake. “It’s amazing some of the loyalty and dedication our team had just to get the place open.”
Fresh
Special Edition
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Clean-up was a family affair at Northlands
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he smell of alcohol was overwhelming when Northlands Countdown store manager Joanne McNaught started inspecting her store in pitch-black darkness after the quake. The building was relatively undamaged but as dawn broke the extent of the wreckage inside was revealed, including a quarter of the shop’s alcohol all over the floor. “It was a hell of a mess to clean up,” she said.
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A twisted footbridge across the Avon River, Avonside, one of the harder hit areas.
team has been equally strong. “The ability of the team to get things done has been very impressive,” Andrew said. “People were rocking up on Saturday after the quake on their rostered day off to help – I was very impressed with that.”
“The leadership team has done an exceptional job.” “We keep on going day-by-day, even hour-by-hour, playing what’s in front, to use a rugby analogy,” he said. “We’re fine, though we’re sick of picking stuff off the floor!”
Exceptional job at Colombo Street
olombo Street Countdown is built to withstand an almost unimaginable 9.2 quake, so the damage it sustained during the quake and its aftershock was only superficial. Store Manager Andrew Gibson said the performance of his
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But help was quickly at hand. “People just arrived and they brought their families along to help with the clean up. It was really so lovely,” she said. Joanne said her staff were driven by a strong sense of responsibility to their customers and their community and they knew they had a vital role providing food, water and other essential supplies. She’s full of praise for everyone’s efforts. “I couldn’t fault anybody - head office people, the people who deal with fixing the building – I made one call to Australia in the morning and said we’d had an earthquake and within an hour I had refrigeration, I had electricians I had portaloos and a generator.” “They went into overdrive and I just can’t thank them enough,” she said.
Ceiling collapses at The Palms
ith its location in one of the hardest hit areas it was not surprising that The Palms Countdown was badly hit. Management and staff arrived after the quake to find the ceiling over the fresh food section had collapsed, bringing with it a lot of wrecked electrical equipment. “It didn’t look flash,” said Store Manager Richard Lough, “in fact it was a bit of a bomb site.” The alcohol section was probably the worst hit, with its aisles and racks at right angles to the movement of the quake. The floor was a lake of alcohol and broken glass.
Getting help if you need it If you live in Christchurch and you’re feeling upset by the earthquake, then there’s no need to suffer alone.
Staff couldn’t get into the shop until an engineer had cleared it for safety at 1.00pm, but with a huge effort from about 50 contractors and staff they were able to open at 10.00pm – hours ahead of their 7.00am target. “They were bloody outstanding, they were just fantastic,” Richard said.
Keeping your feelings to yourself helps no-one, least of all yourself, and there’s plenty of professional help on hand to help you deal with this intensely traumatic event. If you would like to talk to someone please phone SEED on 0508 664 981 and arrange an appointment or a home visit by a professional counsellor. This is a free service and available 24/7.