Balnarring 2011. Ritchies Supermarket .
Balnarring 2011. Ritchies Supermarket .
DATE2011
MEDIAImage
PHOTOGRAPHERJohn Murphy & Barbara Taylor
COLLECTIONBalnarring and District Historical Society
REG NO.P1906
HISTORYBalnarring 2011. Ritchies Supermarket.
Ritchies are a family company who own a number of very successful supermarket style grocery stores on the Mornington Peninsua and in eastern districts of Melbourne, Around 1983 the old family operated Balnarring Store could no longer cope with the growing demand and the old building had been sub standard for a some decades. It was demolished, a three shop complex was built on the site and one of the shops sites was lesed by Ritchies. Within a few years custom outgrew even these premises in spite of being extended in the early 1990s. In the early 2000s a Rithchies invested in their own purpose built premises and the community was well served by this busiess. Howeveri n high tourist season of summer and at Easter the supermarket again exhibited stresses of too much patronage. Some locals would then choose to shop elsewhere, such as Hastings, to avoid the crush. In the early twenty first century this Balnarring store was reputed to be Ritchie’s highest earning business per square metre of floor space.
Ritchies administrd a’ Community Benefits Scheme’ whereby customers could request that a small proportion of their payments for goods would be donated to a charity of their choice. By 2011 Ritchies had donated over $37 million dollars to this scheme.
