Raeward Fresh retail store closes

Richmond's Raeward Fresh store will permanently close on Friday.

The Champion Rd store owners Mark and Lou Paton made the announcement on Tuesday that the retail store would close on Friday at 5pm.  

After undertaking a review of the entire business, they have made the "tough" decision to sell the wholesale operation to Trents Wholesale, a subsidiary of Foodstuffs South Island, the local co-operative also behind Raeward Fresh, and close the retail store.

Raeward Fresh Richmond team members who're impacted by the closure of the retail store will be offered redeployment opportunities within the Foodstuffs South Island network, wherever possible.

Foodstuffs South Island gm retail & property, Tim Donaldson, says customers of Raeward Fresh Wholesale Tasman will continue to receive the great service they expect and will get access to the full range and promotional pricing offered by Trents.

"This change of ownership is an exciting opportunity for Trents to build on the success the Raeward Fresh operators have built up in the area and will enable Trents to respond to the significant wholesale opportunities in the growing region.

"We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Raeward Fresh team and customers for all their support and hard work over the years, Tim says.