New World for third-generation grocers

John and Victoria Kelly are the new owners of New World supermarket in Victoria Avenue. Photo/Bevan Conley

The grocery business runs in the family blood and it's the reason that motivated John and Victoria Kelly to buy Wanganui's New World supermarket.

The couple officially took over the outlet on August 25 with previous owner Brendan Jones buying into a similar supermarket opening in Auckland's Howick suburb.

Mr Kelly is no stranger the grocery business, starting off with Pak 'n Save about 25 years ago in Upper Hutt.

"It was a family business so we're third generation grocers," he said.

It was a job he held for 14 years before the family moved to the South Island where he worked in the rural sector for the next 10 years with CRT as its retail general manager.

But CRT's merger with Farmlands was the catalyst for the move to Wanganui.

"The merger means everything is moving to a head office in Christchurch. We didn't want to move to Christchurch so thought we'd get back into the grocery trade. This store came up so we thought, why not."

The Kellys had not been to Wanganui before, coming for the first time when they heard the Victoria Ave store was on the market.

They said they were very happy to get into the business.

"New World is at the premium end of the market compared to the Pak 'n Save. We want to raise the profile of the business in terms of the quality of produce we've got here. And we want to add more range and variety to the store as well," Mr Kelly said.

He said it was not about being "radically more expensive" than the competitors.

"Pak 'n Save's the cheapest in the market but we'd like to match Countdown in terms of prices which is where we sit our profile at.

"But for us it's about freshness of product. We cut our own meat in the butchery and bake our own goods. It's these differences we want to bring to the table."

Buying the business was straightforward enough with all the staff transferring under the new ownership regime.

"There are good people here. In fact Wanganui strikes me as being a really friendly city. Everywhere you go people have got a smile and they want to engage in a bit of a chat. It's a bit slower paced than what we're used to but that's not a bad thing," Mr Kelly said.

They have four children. The youngest will start at Wanganui Collegiate in the new year.