After more than 55 years under the ownership of the Bakker family, new owners took over Plaza SuperValue on Monday.
Jigs and Shelly Buha came from Bulls, where they owned a supermarket for eight years and learned the importance of running a community business.
But three weeks before takeover, the couple spent their first two weeks in Southland Hospital after a car accident in Bluff.
‘‘It’s always good to explore around before you start a new journey.
‘‘But it didn’t happen, because after six days we had an accident so we ended up in hospital.’’
Mr Buha credited the staff and expertise of assistant manager Gillian Bowie for the smooth transition. Retiring store owner Ron Bakker also missed his dash across his finish line last weekend after contracting Covid 19.
‘‘It was a hell of a way to get out of stocktaking, wasn’t it?’’
Mr Bakker said he was still processing the lifestyle change.
Serious health issues over the past few years saw his sister Gillian Bowie step into the store’s overall management.
Then about three years ago he decided to sell the store.
‘‘I thought it was time to retire and move on and let a younger person come in and give the place a facelift and take it into the next era.’’
But maintaining the store’s status quo had not allowed him time to prepare for his transition into retirement.
He hosted a farewell with his staff the week before handover.
‘‘There were lots of emotions because some of those people have been with me for a long time — like 20 years or more.’’
He credits his staff loyalty and dedication to providing great customer service for much of the store’s longevity and success.
‘‘Our staff were important. They were generally a happy bunch and, of course, that flowed on to looking after our customers, which was always a priority.
‘‘It makes me feel very proud of them all . . . their loyalty was to me, and what goes around, comes around.’’
Mr Bakker expected missing the daily interaction with staff and customers would be the hardest change to make.
‘‘That’s really what it’s all about — it’s a people business.’’
Mrs Bowie said their Dutch parents immigrated to New Zealand after World War 2 and the business began selling fresh produce from the back of a truck bought with borrowed money.
‘‘Dad was a horticulturist by trade, So that’s where his love of everything fruit and vege was.
‘‘He used to have a van [truck] and drive around and sell all his fruit and veges from the van.’’
Their first store opened in Kelvin St and later relocated to its Yarrow St site. Multiple generations of the Bakker family had worked in the store, with many holding after-school jobs.
Mr Buha said he was looking forward to keeping the legacy of the Bakker family.
‘‘[It will be] the same service, same quality of food — everything will be the same.’’
But in addition, the store was now offering a 5% discount to Gold Card customers and would soon be expanding to include DoorDash, Delivereasy and Uber Eats to its service repertoire.
- Toni McDonald
