Echuca IGA Express is the first store in Victoria to shed its name and adopt a new name — IGA Echuca, The Local Grocer + Liquor — in a national move to make all Australian IGA stores more community oriented.
Owner Lance Mitchell said the signage was installed and updated on Monday, May 30 and Tuesday, May 31.
“We hope that our new name and this rebranding will assist us in connecting more with our local community. We are a local business that does have a local team, full of local staff, and that’s something that we want the community to know,” Mr Mitchell said.
Mr Mitchell hopes the rebranding will reduce confusion among IGA customers.
“We previously had three different brands, Super IGA, IGA Express and IGA Everyday, but specials were not always across all three brands, so someone might come in and think that a sale that applies in IGA Everyday applies here as well, but it often will not,” he said.
“This rebranding will make IGA less segregated.”
Mr Mitchell said the rebranding had been on the agenda for quite some time.
“Our rebranding was scheduled for February 2021 but there were delays around the artwork and design, which had been modified several times. The pandemic has also contributed to the delay as well,” he said.
The pandemic has not only delayed the business’s rebranding but also its product availability.
“We have product shortages on about 75 per cent of everything that we order at the moment, which is pretty much across the board at all grocery stores,” Mr Mitchell said.
“The products that are impacted change significantly week to week, although there are some that have been unavailable for weeks. It’s just one of the consequences of the pandemic, unfortunately.”
The rebranding is just one of the many updates at the store.
Staff have recently re-shelved the whole store and are hoping to install an external mural of a paddle steamer by a local artist in the coming months.
Information regarding the new mural will be released soon.