Supporting our local

28 April 2020

Supporting our local

The Albany Mega Centre has always been our local. With an active family of five, we are down there most weekends looking for something for the home, for school, for the kid’s sport, for the dog or for living. Pretty much everything we need is there, all in one place. As we move out of Alert Level 4 into Level 3, I am keen to follow the Government’s advice and support local businesses get back on their feet.

It's Anzac weekend and I call a family meeting to let everyone know that we are going shopping at the Albany Mega Centre. They look at me like I’ve gone mad and remind me that the place will still be closed. I tell them about my plan to support our local businesses by buying online and they ease up on looking at me like I’ve been locked up inside for too long. I tell them that they can all support one Albany Mega Centre store each by buying for delivery or for click & collect.

My youngest son is first to take up the challenge. He’s spent a good part of the lockdown making Lego and he jumps at the chance to purchase a new set. He logs on to the The Warehouse site and finds the Lego City Police Station set. I have an account and so with a couple of clicks we are all set. We’ll click & collect. How easy was that!

My daughter follows. Between Netflix, time on her phone, Zooming her boyfriend and sleeping in she’s been using the holidays to take up exercise. This includes going for a run almost every day and following the Les Mills classes on TV. She asks for some exercise tights and a couple of running tops. I really hope she keeps these good habits up and buying the right gear will help. We look at Rebel Sport and see they’ve got a huge selection of women’s running gear including all the top brands. She’s an online shopping expert and, before I know it, my credit card is entered and the confirmation email pings on my phone.

My husband surprises me. I know he’s been hanging out to play golf so I assumed he’d be choosing the Golf Warehouse. But he heads to Farmers Home and asks for my help to choose. Wow, that never happens! Almost a year after starting to redecorate the rumpus room he’s finally finished it. That’s one good thing that’s come out of a month at home! We’re looking for curtains and find a nice set of Living & Co patterned curtains that go well with the new paint job. We also buy a rug and a couple of beanbags. Everything will be delivered in the next few days.

I’m surprised by my husband but I think he’s also been surprised by me. The lockdown has got me inspired to cook again. It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed cooking. Mostly I see it as a chore. But with time on my hands, I’ve been pulling out the recipe books and experimenting with new taste sensations. Over the month I’ve discovered a couple of things missing from my kitchen and take the opportunity to buy these from Briscoes. The first is a deep enamel casserole dish. The second is a proper skillet. I find both in the Simon Gault range and order them for delivery.

Our fifth family member, Rufus the Labrador, also get the opportunity to support his favourite local store. He struggles a bit with the online shopping so I order for him: a big bag of dry food and a soft animal toy from Animates. He’s trying to look unfussed but I can tell he’s very chuffed that we’ve included him in the family shop!

We’ve all been hanging out for takeaways and the kids decide that one more way for us to support local is to go through the Burger King drive through. I’m looking forward to it.

The Albany Mega Centre has been there for us, most weekends, for the last few years and it feels good to be doing something to help all those businesses kick off Level 3 in a good way. Even in these difficult times they are there for us, have everything we need all in one place and they make it easy, and fun, to buy. Thank you to all the retailers at Albany Mega Centre.


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