Penola IGA Fresh owners Kerry and Shane McPherson are celebrating after being inducted into the IGA Hall of Fame at the 2021 IGA National Awards of Excellence.
The Dr Thomas S. Haggai IGA Hall of Fame Award was awarded by the IGA network for their commitment and contribution to the supermarket industry.
“It’s a very auspicious award that’s not given out lightly and we never would have dreamt that we’d be a recipient of an award like that,” Mr McPherson said.
“We were very honoured to get an award like that, never would have expected it.
“We were just so overwhelmed the industry would pick us.”
Mrs McPherson said it felt “surreal” to receive such a prestigious award.
“It was very unexpected,” she said.
“We feel like we have been blessed.”
The couple was surprised with their four children at the event, with Max arriving from Queensland and Zac, Sam and Maddie travelling from Mount Gambier.
“To have our family there, which we did not know anything about, was pretty special,” Mrs McPherson said.
The couple also received a special video message from their grandchildren and previous inductees had contacted them to say congratulations.
The McPhersons have operated the business for 32 years. They bought the former Penola IGA in 1989 before moving into the new store in 2008.
“We feel like we’re just a couple of country kids doing our normal job and then to be recognised by the industry for our contribution over the last 32 years, it’s tremendous,” Mr McPherson said.
Mrs McPherson said they would like to thank their community and their staff, past and present.
“We cannot run this on our own, we cannot do it on our own, so we’re really very appreciative of our staff,” she said.
“And we’re really appreciative of the community, we try and give back as much as we can to them but we need all those cogs in the wheel to make it all work.”
Mr McPherson said they always tried to give back as much as they can to the community that supported them.
“They’re the ones supporting you, you cannot have a shop without a great community,” he said.
“We have supported the community and the community’s supported us and we love to give back to the community wherever we can.”
