A new fresh food store based in Busselton is about to open next year, with a key focus on stocking fresh produce and food products from the region.
Western Growers will be located on the Causeway Road development alongside Yahava Kwik Koffee and the Puma petrol station.
The business came to life when the owners met their future landlord Ray Mountney, who shared a long term vision to showcase South West produce in Busselton.
Western Growers co-owner Sonja Mitchell said they had been looking for the right location to establish a fresh produce store and the Causeway Road site ticked all the right boxes.
“Western Growers will be a wholesale, retail and kitchen business providing an exciting and engaging new shopping experience in Busselton,” she said.
“Fresh produce will be sourced from more than 200 WA farmers and suppliers, with a preference for goods grown, farmed or caught in the South West.
“The kitchen will prepare homemade ready-to-go meals and we will have an online store with a drive-thru collection to provide a convenient shopping option for people short of time.”
Businessman Ray Mountney said the development would be an expo of the region and was a conglomerate of local thinking.
Mr Mountney said the small businesses would be bolted together at Causeway Road to showcase what this region produces in terms of food, tourism and events.
He said the site had been developed to be tourist-friendly and to handle large amounts of mobile visitors who traveled here.
“The Puma service station is RAC linked which is obviously big in terms of mobile motorists and caravans, the site is expansive with lots of caravan parking and access,” he said.
“We plan to get as much traffic as we can from the bypass and showcase the region, so visitors go wow, we have to dig deeper and visit the food bowl in Manjimup and experience the wine region.
“My concept at the moment is to use areas inside the cafe and Puma for tourism and expose visitors to the beachfront so people who have come here for fuel do go down to the beachfront and see the bay and jetty.
“This development has lots of elements working together and it is brilliant to see it all coming together.”
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Yahava Kwik Koffee owner John Batty said to date their drive thru had operated strongly on the site with locals and visitors enjoying the convenience of specialty coffee being available from such a prominent location.
Mr Batty said for the first time on any of their sites they were no longer a stand-alone business, but since opening have shared the space with Puma.
He said this meant their overall infrastructure was better and customers had other reasons to drop in.
“The addition of a farmers market style business is something we have been looking forward to since day one and is something we are certain residents will embrace,” he said.
“As a business that was born here in the South West and employs over 70 people of all ages, we have grown along with our community and our local suppliers.
“With Western Growers we have already undertaken to help each other where possible and purchase each others products.
“Western Growers will stock the full range of Yahava beans and Kwik Koffee will source fresh produce for our smoothies and salads from right next door, you can’t get fresher than that.”
City of Busselton director of community and commercial services Naomi Searle said any development that supported small business and promotes local produce was a very good thing.
“The South West is renowned for fresh produce and expanding retail opportunities creates income and employment,” she said.
“Obviously investment in the Busselton Margaret River Airport is a major economic driver not just for the City of Busselton but for the entire South West region.
“A key component of the precinct is the airfreight hub which will be the first in the South West. This will expand markets for local producers into the Eastern States and Asia.”.
