Supermarket owners anxious to provide basics

WILMA McCORKINDALE

ALL SHOOK UP: Former Invercargill woman Lynne Bridgman and her granddaughter Pyper Rooney, eight-months, survey the damage at Rolleston New World, which Mrs Bridgman has owned and operated with her husband Roy for the past five years.

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An Invercargill family who faced devastation from the Christchurch earthquake are using their position as supermarket owners to ensure the people of Rolleston have basic food supplies.

Roy and Lynne Bridgman were jolted awake by the 7.1 quake early on Saturday morning.

Soon after they found "total devastation" at the Rolleston New World, the only supermarket in the township, which they have owned and operated for five years.

"We'll open provisionally tomorrow. It's important because we have to make sure the people here have access to all the basics they need," Mr Bridgman said yesterday.

His head baker, who was the only person in the building when the earthquake struck, was able to start making bread for tomorrow, but he was worried about bottled water supplies, Mr Bridgman said.

"The tap water here is contaminated. I've already tried to order more bottled water, but we're not sure how much we'll be able to get. I think we'll be sold out of what we've got within the first half hour of opening."

Although no structural damage was sustained by the building, stock losses were major, Mr Bridgman said. "Each aisle was smothered with stock. Every shelf, which was fully stacked, collapsed and covered everything with broken glass and oils and sauces, which made a huge mess."

With no electricity for 12 hours, frozen goods had thawed.

Civil Defence allowed spoiled stock, which would usually be classed as industrial waste, to be dumped at the Rolleston tip, removing the concern that people might forage through it.

"We've had no real worry of looters, but the army was here for the few hours it took to get five skip loads of damaged stock out of here."

Insurance would cover an estimated $300,000 stock loss and the small amount of damage to the supermarket.

His real worry was the damage done to the two massive food warehouses in Christchurch, Mr Bridgman said.

"There's going to be a real demand for basics, and something like this can break the supply chain, so it could be days or weeks before we get back to business as usual.

"But this town has treated us so well since we've been here that we just want to make sure we're here to provide the basics when people really need them."grant.bryant@stl.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News

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