Returning to a familiar southern setting is a dream come true for new Balclutha supermarket owner Josh Lee.<\/p>\n
Mr Lee and his wife and daughters moved into \u2018\u2018the old family crib at Kaka Point\u2019\u2019 over summer and the couple became the owner-operators of the local New World on February 16.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018This has been the dream my whole life,\u2019\u2019 Mr Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It just shows how strong the ties are here. Those connections add to it and make being at the store even more meaningful.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Originally from Gore, Mr Lee began his Foodstuffs career at 15, stacking shelves after securing a part-time job with help from his mother.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019m eternally grateful to Mum for that. She backed me from the start and I wouldn\u2019t have this opportunity without the support from her and my wife, Lily.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He progressed through two decades in the industry to manage two Christchurch stores and was mentored by previous Balclutha New World owners Jason Dobson and Phill Blackburn before securing the opportunity to shift back south last December.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s only been the last couple of years that owning a store has started to become a realistic possibility,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
They moved fast, and Mrs Lee and the girls were in Kaka Point for Christmas, a place Mr Lee has known since childhood through relatives around the Catlins.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s just incredible to be here, familiar, friendly, everyone\u2019s up for a yarn . . .Nana is up the road in Owaka,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The girls have already had an introduction to rural living, with their father buying them a 50cc motorbike to learn on.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s a pretty special place to grow up,\u2019\u2019 Mr Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Looking outside, walking along the beach, even the short drive into Balclutha is nostalgia 101.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Mr Lee said the welcome he and his family had received from Clutha and the supermarket staff in particular was an inspiration for the next part of his journey.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I want the store to be a place that makes a positive difference for the people that work and shop here, and a hub for our community,\u2019\u2019 Mr Lee said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Returning to a familiar southern setting is a dream come true for new Balclutha supermarket owner Josh Lee.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-360817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}