Press Release 4 March 2011

Fantastic staff restore Stanmore New World supermarket

³Fantastic staff² are the reason the Stanmore New World was up and running just 48 hours after the February 22 Christchurch earthquake.

Owner/operator Ian Wilde said without the exceptional support of all his staff, the well known Richmond supermarket would never have been able to re-open so quickly for the hard-hit eastern suburbs.

³I want to publicly thank my fantastic staff and customers for their consideration and support at this really difficult time. The staff has been superb ¬ they¹ve been wonderful and I think that although they are all tired, they are constantly buoyed up by the feedback they are receiving daily from our customers. That¹s a reward for them, and for all of us.²

A number of the New World staff have been with the business more than 10 years, and a few have served it for more than 20.

³Our supermarket is a central hub of the Richmond community. We¹ve helped develop a really good village culture over the years, and the people here support and trust each other.² He said there was no damage to the building structure, and miraculously, interior damage was minimal.

³We were just very, very lucky that the damage was so slight. We were able to evacuate the building, get all the shoppers and staff into the carpark and then assess the job ahead.² He said ceiling tiles had fallen in the supermarket, and ³everything fell off the shelves.²

There was no power for two days, but even in the dark the staff worked to clear the debris. A cleaning contractor came in to scrub the floor, with water being brought in to service the market. ³Every one of the staff had a good reason not to be there for the clean up, but they all arrived, and everyone worked extremely hard. It was brilliant.²

The supermarket, which Wilde and his father started in 1987, was restocked by 2pm on Thursday when the doors re-opened to a huge queue of waiting shoppers. ³We¹ve been extremely busy ever since. Water, canned foods, pasta, biscuits ¬ all those were among the sought after items when we re-opened.²

Now fully stocked, the supermarket is virtually back to normal. A contractor has scrubbed the carpark at night to remove as much of the silt and dust as possible.

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