Corey Mitchell Coles stacker: Meet the man behind THAT photo that had social media humming

To us, it’s artwork, but to Corey – it’s just another day in store. Meet the man whose attention to detail is making shopping a breeze at a Mid-North Coast supermarket.

Corey Mitchell at Coles Lake Innes

Corey Mitchell is quite literally setting the standard for grocery retail workers around the country, and there’s no denying the proof is there for all to see.

Just weeks ago, the Lake Innes Coles manager came to the forefront of the social media spotlight after a photo was posted to a local Facebook community group of a neatly stacked soft drink aisle.

It garnered hundreds of comments and more than 1000 likes from people commending the unknown Coles worker’s top-shelf stacking ability. It also struck a huge chord with many people who self-identified as having obsessive compulsive disorder (COD).

Corey Mitchell is a man who takes his job very seriously. Pic Daniel Mills

Corey has been with the company for eight years, since he was 17. Pic Daniel Mills

In a bid to try and unmask the mystery man or woman behind the viral photo, The Mid-North Coast News did some digging around and finally tracked down the man who’s been refining his shelf-staking abilities with the company for more than eight years.

“I’m still shocked … I don’t know what it’s like to be a small meme guy,” The Dry Goods manager said.

Corey’s a no-nonsense kind of guy. He doesn’t care much for the spotlight and he didn’t really feel comfortable being the centre of attention for this story.

But, let’s face it, he had no choice. Simply put, this is a case of not all heroes wear capes, and Corey certainly is a hero in the eyes of many who gasped in awe of his wonderful handy work.

“I just see this as general practice, but other people obviously liked it. I’m still just a bit blown away by it all,” he said.

“It’s just general practice at Coles to keep the shelves neat and tidy for our customers. After a day of doing how ever many sales, there’s cardboard everywhere, and it’s not great look for customers and the brand.”

Corey Mitchell admiring his handy work. Picture: Daniel Mills

Like clockwork at 1pm every day, Corey and his team of five undertake a process called ‘resetting.’

“Resetting is just turning things around, making sure everything looks presentable and well placed for customers,” he said.

“It’s a habit, you do it enough times and it becomes normal, it’s a pride thing.”

“It’s something you try to do every day, at least keep things tidy as possible – most of the time we do, but retail can be pretty difficult, it depends on the availability of people.

“I’ve got a pretty good team here, it makes my work life a lot easier having the strength of a good team behind me.”

The photo which sparked the social media storm was uploaded to Facebook, shortly after the busy Christmas-new year period.

Corey said the reason the shelves looked so eye-catching, was because of the extra work that went in to presenting the store after that time.

“Things got a bit messy after Christmas,” he said.

“When the photo got posted I actually had people come in who were mixing bottles up, turning things around, even a couple of days after they were still doing it,” he said.

“It was a bit of a joke for some people.”

The original post on Port Macquarie Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down. Pic Facebook

The original image of Corey's near perfect display. Pic Facebook

But as much as Corey loves a joke, he takes his job very seriously.

“This is my first ever job,” he said.

“I started out on night duty [eight years ago], doing 8pm to midnight shifts, then I became the night fill captain there [Salamander Bay].

“I wanted to become a Dry Goods manager at some point so I went into fruit, to learn how to be a fruit manager – so I became the fruit manager and did two years of that before I moved into groceries.

“I’ve had really positive mentors here [at Coles].

“My boss here at the moment was my first store manager, he has taught me a lot. I’ve had a lot of people help me.

And on the question of whether there’s any truth to the fact he must be obsessive compulsive, he said.

“Yeah, I am a little bit, but that’s just been part of my trade, it’s my job to be.”