Greytown move for Ward family

You would think the Ward family have a penchant for the words grey and west since they will soon make the move from Westvale Drive in Christchurch after selling Fresh Choice Supermarket in Greymouth, to Westwood Ave, in Greytown, where they plan to open another Fresh Choice.
But it was purely a coincidence, said Chris Ward, the man who has bought the Greytown Fresh Choice franchise.
It was announced last week Progressive Enterprises planned to open a Fresh Choice supermarket in Greytown on the site of the defunct Bouzaid and Ballaben clothing factory, creating about 60 jobs.
Mr Ward said he was looking forward to adding value to the Greytown community with the new jobs, and that butchery and bakery apprenticeships would also be on offer for young people.
"Our main objective is to be of value and to give back to the community in any way we can. In Greymouth we supported all sorts of things in the community like schools and kindergartens and fundraisers - you name it, we'll support it," Mr Ward said.
"I sincerely hope that the population of Greytown is absolutely thrilled with the prospect of the new supermarket because it will do nothing but good."
As the owner of Fresh Choice in Greymouth, Mr Ward commuted from his home in Christchurch for six years, living in Greymouth during the week and spending weekends at home with his wife Lindsey and three sons.
"I didn't want to move them away from their home and their friends, but when they left school, we decided we had done our dash with the commute and we didn't want to move to Greymouth because we had done our dash with that, so we decided to sell in October last year and look for another opportunity."
The right opportunity arose in Greytown, and after many visits to see the site and talk to people involved, as well as exploring the area, Chris and Lindsey bought a section in the Westwood subdivision and put plans in motion for the supermarket.
Chris and Lindsey's 9-year-old son Charlie was "very excited" about the move - being the only child still at home - with 21-year-old Michael in England climbing up the ranks in Britain's Royal Air Force and 18-year-old Sam working at Mt Hutt as a ski instructor.
"He [Charlie] is so excited about going to Greytown School, particularly about getting a laptop later on. We've been to the school and he's had a look around and met the principal, so he's absolutely thrilled with the idea."
They hope to move at the end of the year, once their house is built and supermarket construction has begun.
"It's not clear yet when the store will open, but we're hoping it will be in the first quarter of 2012, so I want to be there a few months beforehand to get involved once it starts looking like a supermarket instead of a construction site and I can start thinking about recruiting staff."
Mr Ward has no fear of competition, particularly plans for a supermarket in Featherston.
"I think the Featherston supermarket is being made out to be bigger than it is," he said.
"I've seen plans for it and what I see is a small mall-type development with a supermarket that's about half the size of ours ..."
He also believes some competition can be good.
"We had a close look at New World in Carterton, which is extremely well presented, but it looks a little dated inside, so as soon as they heard another supermarket was coming 8km down the road, they started refurbishing.
"As soon as a new kid comes to town, people take a look at themselves and pull their socks up and sharpen themselves up, so that's good for us because it will keep us on our toes too."