Kawakawa customer cashes in on $10,000 prize

Kawakawa resident Chevy Taylor with Hammer Hardware Kawakawa store owner Malcolm Francis.

A Northland hardware store has helped a local resident turn $11 into $10,000.

Kawakawa resident Chevy Taylor swiped her AA Smartfuel card during a $10.99 purchase and won $10,000 in return, as the winner of a nationwide competition.

For the month of November every customer who made a purchase and swiped their AA card at a Hammer Hardware store was entered into the draw.

Chevy is a regular at Hammer Hardware Kawakawa and was ecstatic to find out she'd won the big prize.

"I didn't think it was true, I thought someone was playing a prank on us!" she said.

"My husband and I aren't used to winning anything, we have a small business in Kawakawa and we're so used to giving, so to get something back was quite cool."

Chevy and her husband intend to use most of the prize to pay off bills but they were also able to have some fun with the money.

"We recently went down to Queenstown for our wedding renewal so we used a bit of it to enjoy ourselves with friends and family and to go jet-boating."

The $10,000 prize is the second big win for one of the store's customers this year.

Another regular, Harry Davis, was the recipient of a $5000 travel voucher after being drawn as the winner in a Mother's Day promotion in May.

Kawakawa store owner Malcolm Francis said his team was in "disbelief" on receiving the news of a second customer being named as a national prize winner.

"To be selected a winner among 50 stores and thousands of transactions is one thing, but for it to happen twice? Kawakawa must just be a lucky place," he said.

"Chevy is a regular who's in here all the time to pick things up. The whole team is really happy for her."

The promotion ran from November 1-30.