Clayfield Market Meats makes way for Harris Farm expansion

A popular Brisbane butcher has flagged a grim future for the essential service after struggling to compete with major chains.

A popular inner-Brisbane butcher will close its doors next week with the veteran owner flagging the decline of the once essential trade.

Clayfield Market Meats will be shuttered to make way for the expansion of the neighbouring Harris Farm Markets store as veteran butcher Michael Purdy warned the presence of local butchers would decline into obscurity.

“Our industry is struggling big time,” Mr Purdy told The Courier-Mail, revealing a workforce shortage.

Clayfield Market Meats butcher Michael Purdy has sold his business to neighbouring Harris Farm Markets. Picture: David Clark

“Covid burned all the butchers out because we are an essential service — we work seven days a week for months, and months, and months, and a lot of the old-time butchers just got burned out.”

Mr Purdy, who owns another butcher in Brisbane’s south, said it had been a difficult decision to inform his team and loyal shoppers, with many left “very upset”.

But he said it was the right time to scale back his career with the increasing difficulty of competing with the staffing power and pricing capabilities of major chains.

“Trading hours is what kills small businesses,” Mr Purdy said. “Harris trades from 6am until 10pm — Coles is the same.”

Mr Purdy said it had become difficult to compete against the major chains. Picture: David Clark

He also said the added expenses of business meant he needed to pass electricity, produce and staffing costs on to consumers.

“People look at my rump steak at $30-plus a kilo and then they go to Coles and they see it for $25 and they go ‘oh it’s rump steak’, but it’s horses for courses,” Mr Purdy said.

In the more than 40 years the butcher has plied his trade, he said the meat market had changed dramatically with the recent consumer preference for pre-prepared alternatives.

“It’ll transition into more of this – a hub where people will come in and just get heat-and-eat meals. They’ll come in and get their pies, sausage rolls and their ready to eat meals,” he said.

“We’ll transition from cutting up meats into quasi-cooks, as well, because people are time poor.”

Despite Mr Purdy’s concerns over the future of his trade he said he was ready and willing to sell the Clayfield store, with Harris Farm Markets co-chief executive Tristan Harris confirming the deal had been in discussions for “a while”.

“It came to the point where it made sense for both of us,” Mr Harris said.

“I’m hoping that it’s going to be a nice transition from one family to another.”

The co-chief executive said the performance of the Clayfield store, which the Harris family initially owned in the ’80s was taken over again in 2020, had been “trading its head off”.

Harris Farm has a second store in West End and another flagged for Toowong, but Mr Harris said it would be cautious with its future expansion in Brisbane.

“We’ll have to see what comes up,” he said.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves – If we have any shops that don’t work, we’ve got to make sure that it’s not because we’re not doing the right thing for the customer.”