South East Rural working hard

The hard-working team at South East Rural Supplies has been recognised for their efforts with a national award.

The Cooma based rural supplier took home the top award at the National Australian Independent Rural Retailers and Tuckers National Member Conference in Adelaide, being named the 2022 Peter Law National AIRR Member of the Year, out of 350 candidates.

“The rural industry can be tough with conditions forever changing, we need to be as adaptable as ever to service our customers and the broader community,”

AIRR Chief Operating Officer Peter Lourey said.

“It shows how special this achievement is for South East Rural Supplies, especially considering the competition in this category and the success of independents around them. They are now setting the bar high for their peers, demonstrating ideas on how they can respond that tells the real story.

“Congratulations to South East Rural Supplies for an unbelievable year in 2021. They play a vital role in their community and it gives us great pleasure to acknowledge those that are doing such a fine job.”

Store owners David and Sue Bottom attended the conference to accept the award and the store general manager James Waugh said the team was honoured to receive it.

“It means a lot to the team here to receive the award as the judging of it is very professional and seriously carried out,” Waugh said.

“We’ve won six NSW awards before now and so it’s really special to receive the national award and receive the recognition for being a locally owned business that supports local and employs locally. So of course, we couldn’t have done it without our wonderful customers and staff.”

This year’s conference announced three years’ worth of award winning