IGA Baranduda stages its official opening with strong support from customers in the community

The community's new IGA store had its official opening on Saturday with a family event.

Co-owner Nick Cook said the biggest challenge was to change shoppers' habits to support IGA given they have been so used to the commute into Wodonga to buy their groceries.

"Word of mouth is the best marketing you can get, the problem is it takes a bit of time," he said.

"As soon as the word starts to get around, people will come on board.

"Our prices are really competitive.

"There's a lot of stuff we'll launch over the next few months in terms of customer rewards programs, which isn't just about benefits for the shop itself, but the community benefits from it as well because we'll donate back to local organisations.

"We will launch our online shopping platform as well, so hopefully in the next four to six weeks we'll be online so people can shop from the comfort of their own home and still know that they're supporting local business and local jobs."

Mr Cook said the store was delighted to supply a wide range of products from across the Border and North East.

"We're very proud of our meat, which all comes from Tallangatta and is all locally farmed," he added.

"From a produce perspective, anything we can source locally, we will. We've had Nu Fruit at Wangaratta come on board which has been great."

Zucchini was the first product purchased from the new supermarket.

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Baranduda couple Bianca Kennedy and Zac Redburn have been regulars at the store since its soft opening last month.

"It's been really good to have it open," Miss Kennedy said.

"There's a great variety and it's fantastic not to have to drive into Wodonga all the time.

"We're big fans of The Cheesecake Shop products."

Laura Clough attended the opening with her three children and will continue to support IGA.

"It's walking distance for us, so I find it really convenient that I can walk the kids to school and then come do the shopping. It will make a big difference," she said.

"It's good for stuff like bread and milk that you run out of pretty quickly. I don't have to drive into town to go and get milk and bread now.

"Having the Miss Amelie pies and The Cheesecake Shop stuff here means it's not multiple stops any more."

A petting zoo and face painting were a hit with the kids, Baranduda Cricket Club cooked a barbecue and activities were conducted by Baranduda CFA.

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