Tragedy struck on the 27th December, 2021 for Chandra Kollipara and Ramya Peddi when their Bourke SPAR Supermarket burnt to the ground, caused by an unidentified electrical issue.

An excited Chandra and Ramya, can finally see all their hardship and anguish coming to an end, now that work has commenced on their new supermarket.

Expectations are high with the building scheduled to be completed in early February 2023, with the supermarket opening soon after.

Work is being carried out by the MAAS Group from Dubbo.

Chandra said, “The logistics of building, fitting out and stocking a new supermarket are well under way. SPAR is a huge Australian company, very big in Queensland and NSW. We have had to explain to SPAR the many differences between a country supermarket and a large city one.”

SPAR Australia Limited supplies over 300 independent retail supermarkets across Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and the Pacific Island area.

Originating in Holland, SPAR is part of the acronym of the Dutch sentence, 'Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig'. It translates into: 'We all benefit from joint cooperation'.

ABOVE: Chandra Kollipara and Ramya Peddi with baby Yogi.

The running of the new supermarket will continue to be a family affair. “I will continue to run the deli section, meat cabinet and special products,” Ramya stated.

Chandra and Ramya say they cannot thank the Bourke community enough. “The whole community has been behind us, the shire, ordinary people on the street, just everyone, Bourke is our family now. SPAR has the philosophy ‘Better Together’ and there is no better example of this than in Bourke,” Ramya said.

Chandra and Ramya still have eleven paid employees on their books, with seven more to be employed at the commencement of 2023.