When you walk into Four Square Fairlie, you’ll likely hear owner-operator Dave MacKenzie’s playlist pumping through the speakers, and you might even catch a customer dancing in the aisles.
Bringing music into the store was the first of many upgrades Dave and Kim MacKenzie made when they took over as owner-operators in October last year.
Almost 12 months on, the couple has transformed just about every corner of the store, investing close to NZD one million.
The spruce-up started with polished concrete floors and electronic shelf labels, then moved to new produce and meat cabinets, refrigeration and freezers, grocery and wine shelving, an upgraded Lotto area, redesigned checkouts, a walk-in beer chiller, and a refreshed deli-bakery, with hot chips joining the food-to-go offer.
When the grocery department was redone, not a single product went back to its old place, and the couple used the opportunity to rethink the store from the customer’s perspective and use the space better.
Dave MacKenzie has also put plenty of his own elbow grease into the job, painting almost the entire store inside and out and sanding and coating around 30 sheets of Shadowclad. The upgrades have been a hit behind the scenes too, with refreshed staff facilities among the changes. All new shelving was another highlight of the refurbishment.
But for the couple, the investment was about much more than a better-looking store. Four Square Fairlie has been the community's main grocery store, with the nearest alternative supermarket about a 40- to 45-minute drive away, so a strong local grocery offering matters.
As a locally owned business, the couple has personally invested in making the store the best it can be for their community and has also sponsored the local golf and bowling clubs, with plans to support the local rugby club’s under-15s team too.
They know their customers, make decisions with locals in mind, and have the Foodstuffs South Island co-operative behind them to help deliver the quality, range, and value people expect from their local grocery store.
They also bring plenty of experience to the job, as Dave MacKenzie spent 26 years with Foodstuffs South Island before he and Kim MacKenzie helped run New World Ashburton. They then both took ownership of Four Square Ōmarama before taking over Four Square Fairlie.
Having grown up together in Alexandra, Central Otago, the couple always knew they wanted to return to small-town life. With the major refurbishment almost behind them, they look forward to spending more time with customers, growing the store’s delivery and food-to-go offers, and hearing what locals want to see next.
Ultimately, it’s about making Four Square Fairlie somewhere people genuinely enjoy being.
