Coolac Store Manager Peter Pitcher in his acceptance speech at the 2025 AIRR Conference where the Coolac Store won the Peter Law National AIRR Member of the Year Award.
The Coolac Store has won the Australian Independant Rural Retailers (AIRR) National Peter Law Member of the Year award for 2024 at the AIRR Conference held on the Gold Coast.
The store also won back in 2021, which makes them one of only three businesses to have won the prestigious award twice and highlights their commitment to the sector.
Peter Pitcher, who retires tomorrow after 15 years as Manager, and James Waugh, who will be stepping in to the role of Manager, attended the Conference and accepted the award.
James Waugh said the winner of the award is not just drawn out of a hat, it is quite a critiqued award.
“The award is judged out of 320 AIRR member stores Australia wide, and it is based on an increase of sales turnover and participation in marketing programs. They also gather intel from various market suppliers, to get a gauge on how we are transacting business with some of the major suppliers as well. So, it is a fairly well critiqued criteria.”
“For us, winning the award is a recognition of teamwork and also loyalty from customers to increase sales growth, it’s a combination of both really. It is a big honour for D.H. Roberts to be awarded and a great acknowledgment,” James said.
“The award really highlights the efforts of the team here at Coolac, and also the loyalty from our loyal customers within the district, which covers a fair base from Tumut through to Tumblong, through to Adjungbilly and Jugiong, so it is a broad and wide district, and obviously without a team we haven’t got a business and without customers we haven’t got a business either,” James said.
James is excited to be back in the district where he grew up and to come the full circle. He grew up in Gobarralong, and has been involved in the agriculture supply chain industry for many years through the eastern states with various different companies. D.H. Roberts, which trades as the Coolac Store, is a rural merchandise store located just off the Hume Highway at Coolac, NSW, servicing the surrounding Gundagai, Gobarralong, Adjungbilly, Muttama and Cootamundra areas within the Riverina. Established in 1895, the Coolac Store has a proud history of servicing farmers and their families. It is open from 7am-5pm Monday – Friday and 8am-12pm on Saturdays.
-Emily Flint
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