Residents of a small farming town in Western Australia's Wheatbelt are getting used to being able to shop locally for the first time in seven years.
Residents in Perenjori, about 340 kilometres north-east of Perth, have long faced a 100km round trip to do their regular shopping.
The town's previous supermarket closed in 2018 and the remaining building was reduced to rubble during ex Tropical Cyclone Seroja.
But residents hope a new grocery store, opened officially on 8 August, will help breathe new life into the town.
Locals expect the opening of the town's new supermarket, backed by the Shire of Perenjori, will be a big time and cost saver.
Perenjori Shire took out a $1.5 million loan and cashed in $500,000 of disaster recovery funding to get the project off the ground.
Prior to the opening, Perenjori residents had to travel to Morawa, further to Geraldton or even as far as Perth for shopping, depending on the items needed.
New way of life
Chloe Heard travels 40km each day from nearby Latham to work in Perenjori.
She said no longer having to plan weeks in advance on where and when to buy groceries would take some getting used to.
"I reckon I'm going to forget a couple of times before [I realise] I can just duck down to the shops after work," she said.
"It's going to be a lot easier for families … if you need to stock up on school supplies or anything now we've got a supermarket just down the road."
"So you don't have to wait to go to Perth or Geraldton to do that kind of thing, it makes [Perenjori] more family friendly."
Henry Chabros lives in Perth with his girlfriend Gemma Cusworth, who grew up in Perenjori.
They made the trip up to celebrate the supermarket opening.
"Coming from Perth, we definitely take [having supermarkets] for granted and there's probably a whole bunch of people that live in Perth who never really venture out to country towns," he said.
"So for me it's a pretty big eye-opener just to see how people here live and no-one makes a fuss … morale seems pretty good."
Ms Cusworth said her parents used to pack their esky with fresh produce whenever they visited her in Perth and she would always check if they needed anything before visiting.
"[Now] they don't have to worry about stocking the pantry or fridge and freezer with all sorts of stuff because they don't know what they're going to feel like or what they'll want to eat," she said.
"If they run out of milk or bread then it's just a quick drive into town, which is so much easier for them."
Helping other businesses
Perenjori publican Kirk Pohl said being able to walk "30 seconds" down the road to quickly stock up on ingredients in the middle of a lunch-time rush would be "fantastic".
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"[At the pub] you might have 20 meals one night and 130 meals the next so it's very hard, especially with fresh produce, to know how much to have on hand," he said.
"Our closest drive to a shop is Morawa … an 80km round trip just to buy some groceries so having this shop 100 metres from the pub is fantastic news for us."
Ambrose Heelan's Red Emu Motel has been almost fully booked since it opened about a year ago.
Mr Heelan said being able to buy groceries in town would benefit his guests and staff.
"I think every business sort of floats off each other, so the more people we bring to town, the more money they spend at the supermarket and cafe as well," he said.
"I've got staff here now and we don't have to travel [out of town] to the shop so hopefully we save a bit of money too."
'Need, not a want'
Recently retired shire chief executive Paul Anderson said he was proud the town would be given back an essential for daily life.
"It's not just a want, it's an actual need for people," Mr Anderson said.
"Having a supermarket is one of the basic necessities of a community where you can walk down the street and buy your groceries and what you need for tea."
Mr Anderson said he hoped the shop would bring people back into town to make it "brighter and more community orientated".
Written by Piper Duffy, ABC News.
