Eidsvold Rural’s statewide recognition

How this small rural store in the North Burnett beat independent retailers across the state.

STORE OF THE YEAR: Eidsvold Rural's Julie Mossman with her AIRR QLD Store of the Year award. Picture: Sam Turner

A SMALL business in the North Burnett has been crowned the state's store of the year by an Australian retailer association.

Eidsvold Rural, run by Keith and Julie Mossman, has been awarded the Queensland store of the year by the Australian Independent Rural Retailers Association for 2019.

To triumph over independent retail stores across the state is a mammoth achievement and Mrs Mossman is still in disbelief.

"It was a really big surprise," she said. "But Keith and I were there on the Gold Coast to accept the award at the Star Casino on the Gold Coast."

AIRR is an independent buying group which helps retail stores compete against corporate and franchise competitors.

For a small store in the North Burnett to win such an award is indicative of their success in the region.

Originally buying the store in October 2014, Mrs Mossman owes its success to the support in her town.

"You can't go anywhere without your local support, and it's not just me, but the girls who are with me as well.

"It's the people in town that support you and we always like to give that support back to local community groups."

Combating numerous challenges in their five years, the "big dry" caused some hardships for their business.

The fortuitous change in weather however has seen Mrs Mossman and the store take a well-earned break.

When asked why she thought Eidsvold Rural won out, she can attribute it to several things.

"It's got to do with growth, innovation and changing your store to adapt to the environment.

"It goes on sales and customer service too, where they assess you on that."

This service goes a long way in Mrs Mossman's eyes, believing stores should go above and beyond for their customers.

"Carting their bags of chook food or dog food out to the car … those little things can add up to make people come back."

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