Former IT man goes full circle

FOR THE LOCALS: Darren and Karen Huston say their new Edmund Rd Four Square has been a hit with locals - as has their eye-catching Four Square car. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER 261113SP5

Rotorua's Darren Huston admits it was a risk leaving a successful IT career to stack baked beans on a supermarket shelf.

But it's a risk he believes has paid off - together with wife Karen he is now the proud owner of the new Four Square supermarket on Edmund Rd.

The supermarket opened three weeks ago, employing eight staff, and is already proving a hit with its community, according to Mr Huston.

The 39-year-old's journey has, in a sense, come full circle.

He grew up "across the reserve" from the supermarket, which sits between the Habitat store and the Gull Service Station.

He attended Western Heights Primary School and Rotorua Boys' High School and as a teenager worked in the service station.

After earning a forestry degree he worked in Kaingaroa Forest, then Waipa Sawmill. He then "fell into" IT and spent 12 years as a sought-after SAP consultant, seven of those in the UK.

When he, Karen and their two UK-born children moved home to Rotorua - for "lifestyle and family" - Mr Huston knew it was time for a change.

"I thought I'd better work out what I wanted to do when I grow up."

Supermarkets seemed the way to go.

"It's based in one place ... IT was always travelling. And supermarkets appealed as everyone's always got to eat."

So he said goodbye to the IT and took up a job as a duty manager at Rotorua Pak'nSave - his former colleagues' reactions ranging from disbelief to admiration. "I was taking the suit off one day and put the Pak'nSave shirt on the next, stacking baked beans."

After 18 months of learning the ropes, he was ready for the next step and decided Four Square was it.

"We looked around for one to buy but they're quite hard to buy," he said.

"We were coming back from looking at one in Whangarei ... drove past here and thought, hmmm, wonder if this could work."

So they approached Habitat, figured out the logistics and ended up subdividing and buying part of the building.

That was 18 months ago and three weeks ago they opened the doors, without advertising or fanfare, having put everything on the line.

"We got nailed ... we ran out of stock," Mr Huston said.

"It's as if they [customers] had been standing at that door waiting for the past 15 years for something to happen."

He said the store was spacious, airy and convenient and the carpark meant customers could park right outside the door. It also had a large catchment area of customers who had previously had to go to Ford Rd or Western Heights to shop, he said.

Mr Huston said he was stoked to have got the top three on his "wish list" - Lotto, a wine and beer licence and an ATM.

"I always knew it [the shop] would work, [it was] just how well and how long it would take."

All the senior staff lived within walking distance of the supermarket, he said.

"It's neat to have locals in your local."

With the official opening this Saturday, Mr Huston said he was now starting to settle into his new role.

"I had always wanted to buy my own business, have my own staff, culture, team," he said.

"I had seen the good, the bad and the ugly in corporates I have worked for."

He said his ultimate goal was to buy a New World or a Pak'nSave but for now his focus was purely on the Four Square.

"I am more than happy here, more than enough to keep me busy for a while."