By ALANA MITCHELSON
LOYAL senior customers of Pakenham’s oldest supermarket site fear their much-loved Ritchies IGA could close within weeks.
But Ritchies’ headquarters maintains that no decision has been made to close its Pakenham supermarket, despite weeks of rumours.
“We are still trading. Please go down to the store and view for yourself,” national operations and risk manager Phil Thomas said.
“At this point in time no final decision as to the future of the store has been made.”
The Main Street corner store has been home to a grocery store for close to a century, having opened as the McAfee Brothers in 1925 prior to becoming the Robinson’s SSW in the ’50s and was temporarily run by Safeway for a couple of years in the early ’80s before being taken over by Ritchies.
Long-time customer Margaret McKay said she was “very disappointed” to hear of another independent grocery store closing its doors.
“At IGA you see the same staff every week and it becomes social. They always ask me how I am and I ask them how their studies are going,” the 82-year-old said.
“I go for my seniors’ discount every Thursday and they have a community benefits card that clocks up points that convert into donations to local charities.
“Independent grocery stores give people choice. Shopping there keeps the small people in business and not to be dominated by the major players.
“And it’s a small store, so you don’t have to walk for miles, whereas at Coles and Woolworths you very rarely find a member of staff nearby to help you.
“Now I’ve got to decide where to shop. I’ll be shopping at Aldi in Lakeside.”
Pakenham resident Glynis Ramsay said she had noticed stock emptying out from the shelves over the past month.
“When I overheard staff talking about the closure, I was distraught. It should stay forever,” she said.
“I think that once word got out that it’s closing, less people are going there.
“With competition often comes sadness. And it has been very sad to learn that Ritchies IGA in Pakenham has become unviable.
“For years Ritchies has provided a community alternative, a clean and safe corner store where locals have found friendship and everything they’ve needed at competitive prices, with close-knit staff who always have a smile.
“There is talk that the business may be sold and the store may stay in some form.
“But Ritchies is far more than just a grocery store and its closure or replacement heralds a change that I hope does not seep through the rest of the community, where small business is squeezed.”
Store manager Brett Reid told the Gazette last month that their notification of the closure had been “sudden”.
“We’re just taking it day to day at the moment,” Mr Reid said.
“We’ve probably got about three weeks now. We haven’t been given any timeline.”
