The McBride family, Geoff, Elisa and Margaret (pictured) and son Brad, checked out of their Yarra Glen supermarket for the last time on Monday.By Kath Gannaway
FOR Yarra Glen’s McBride family, the opportunity to live and work as part of the local community has been the ultimate reward of operating businesses in the town for more than 30 years.
Geoff and Margaret McBride, son Brad and daughter Elisa, closed the doors on the IGA Supermarket they have operated for the past decade on Monday.
Geoff took over Olneys butcher shop in 1976 and moved into the supermarket in 1998.
They’ve been part of the community ever since.
Brad and Elisa grew up in the butcher shop, went to the local primary school and pretty much got to know everybody in town.
Geoff said the supermarket business had grown steadily over the past 10 years, developing in pace with the town.
“I believe the new supermarket will be a good thing for the town,” he said last week as the Ritchie’s Super IGA got set to open as part of the new shopping complex.
Although there is a degree of sadness attached to leaving a way of life that is so closely connected to the community, Geoff says the town had probably outgrown the business.
“We’re still serving the second and third generation people we were serving 20 or 30 years ago. It’s been a lot of fun,” he said.
“Being involved with all the customers and seeing their families grow just like ours over a period of time has been wonderful,” Margaret added. The respect and friendship they have been shown in the community is something she said they all value immensely.
The business has employed hundreds of people over the years from teenagers through every age bracket.
“A lot of it has been after school work and we have seen them go from serving on the tills to become doctors and go into all sorts of professions. It’s been so good to see them develop,” Geoff said.
The immediate plan for all the McBrides is to just take a break for a while.
“We might get into a business at some point,” Geoff said, but he was quick to rethink that proposition.
“I’d say that’s highly unlikely though. We’re more likely to be seen on the bowling green, or travelling Australia,” he added.
