It was an eerie feeling walking down the Fresh Choice Richmond aisles for its final trading day on Sunday after 66 years.
Many shelves were bereft in the final hour, a flashback to shopping amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but this time a sign that the sales in the final week were well received.
The supermarket announced its closure in January after owners Gary and Lisa Watson were unable to get a new lease that suited the needs of the business.
Sarah van Kleef had commuted from Motueka once every few weeks to collect groceries at the supermarket for around 21 years and was “amazed” she was its final customer.
She says she knew the store was set to close but was unaware her Fresh Choice Richmond fix shortly before 4pm on Sunday would be her last.
“It’s very sad for the Tasman district… but this is the times at the moment, for businesses it’s a struggle, and I’m sure [the owners] are doing the right thing for themselves,” she says.
“Hopefully it’s a happy moment for them in the end… and for the staff, I’m sure they’ll find something because there’s still work out there.
“I really enjoyed the natural product side [at Fresh Choice Richmond], and when they did the thing with the fizzy drinks, stopping the young ones from buying it before school, I really agreed with that.”
Sarah was equally amazed the staff allowed her Italian sparking water, juices, potato chips, flowers, and a cookbook, to be free of charge, along with a gifted bottle of champagne.
A small crowd had gathered to give an emotional round of applause to Fresh Choice staff for their community service as Sarah wheeled her trolley towards the exit.
Gary Watson told the Waimea Weekly in the final shopping hour, that the closure began to “hit home” after a “trying” and “emotional” build-up.
The business had been in his family since its inception, and he had operated it with his wife Lisa for the past decade.
“We’ve all enjoyed being here and we’re sad that it has come to an end, and as the days have gone on, and now the hour, it’s certainly started to hit home,” he says.
“The sales have been great, and even the stuff that’s not on special, our loyal customers have been coming in and helping clear stock.”
He says the remaining stock will be collected by its supplier and distributed to Fresh Choice Nelson and Woolworths supermarkets.
Gary said, on closing day the store was down to about 50 staff, and many of them had new jobs lined up.
“We got a really great response when I put out the first [message] that we need jobs for our team, and I got about 40 emails that night from different places in Richmond and Nelson, so we banged them all out to the staff,” he says.
“A lot of the staff that got jobs were allowed to stay till the end to help me out and then they go off to their new jobs next week.”
Gary, along with current and former staff, some of whom were teary-eyed, had a quiet farewell drink when the doors shut.
He says the store’s clean-up must be done in the next three weeks.
“After that [Lisa and I will] take a bit of time off and see what the world brings,” he says.
“Thank you to the community, all our staff, and all our customers, it’s been a magic place to be in, we’re certainly going to miss everybody, it’s sad that it’s come to an end.”
Richmond Mall says the supermarket’s replacement will be revealed in the near future.
