Three generations of Ryans will soon celebrate 40 years of their New World Alexandra store.
Supplying groceries to the town is a family business and the Ryans have been doing it since November 13, 1984, when the store’s doors opened.
The oldest member of the family, Peter Ryan, started in the grocery business before New World began and opened the Four Square in Alexandra in the mid-1970s.
Ownership was passed down from Peter to Kevin and now Shane Ryan.
Kevin said technology had been the biggest change in supermarkets in 40 years.
He started working there on opening day and remembered when every individual item in the store had to be price-stickered, but now there were scanners for that job, which made things a lot more efficient, he said.
Kevin took over the business from his father, and handed it down to his son Shane and wife Helen in January 2020.
After seeing the children of people he had employed when they were young now coming to work there, he knew it was time to retire.
Kevin said meeting all the people of Alexandra as customers and employees was the best part.
“It’s quite a community … that’s what it’s all about, I wouldn’t have been involved in it if I didn’t enjoy being with people.”
His son Shane agreed.
He said supporting the people of Alexandra was important too, from the Blossom Festival, to discounted sausage sizzles for local fundraisers.
“Now that our kids are involved in a hell of a lot of things, we can see it is important to look after all facets of the the community,” Shane said.
He said taking over in January 2020 just before a global pandemic and remaining one of the only stores open for business was a “pretty daunting” task and required them to adapt quickly.
Speaking as the third generation of Ryans, Shane said there was no rule book for them to follow, but their customers were “exceptional”.
Similar to Kevin, he had worked in the store since he was a teenager and now he and Helen’s three children were following suit.
For Shane, the biggest change he had seen on the shelves was the rise in gluten-free items and customers being much more open to buying organic and New Zealand-made products.
But what people wanted was always changing and keeping up was the challenge, he said.
Shane and Helen thanked their customers and staff for their support over the past 40 years.
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