Community
17 April, 2025
New owners to continue store’s 20-year legacy
DERRINALLUM’S supermarket will be seeing a continuing legacy while looking to the future as new owners take over towards the end of the month.
ew owners as previous owners Evelyn and Ray Walters look to retirement after 20 years of managing the store.
Mrs Walters said she and her husband had decided to call time and move into the next chapter of their lives.
“We’ve decided it was time to move into retirement,” she said.
“It’s just time to move on – we’re both in retirement age.
“Thanks for all the support over these years and best wishes for the future.”
The supermarket will be taken over by Sumanth Gone and Phani Pallapothu, with the duo have spent a number of weeks getting to know the store and the community during the transition period.
Mr Gone said they having been in Australia for a while and were looking to operate a retail outlet.
“We’ve been looking for a while, and we found this place – having settled in a metropolitan city, we were looking for somewhere in the countryside for the peace,” he said.
“When you compare it to the metropolitan city, the countryside has that freedom and peacefulness, which we have been looking for for a while.
“That is the main reason we selected Derrinallum as the best place – it’s also not too far from where we are in Geelong.
“The place is pretty beautiful – I hope it will be the same when we start up.”
Mr Gone said Mr Pallapothu and himself have been seeking feedback from the community to implement new changes for the supermarket.
“We want to help the local community – we want to open seven days a week,” he said.
“We haven’t set the times yet, but we’re hoping to really soon.
“One more thing we’re introducing is a home delivery service.
“We took the feedback from many people, especially in Lismore, Derrinallum and the suburbs as well – when we spoke to them, we were hearing they were looking for a home delivery service, especially elders who aren’t able to travel.
“Upon request, we will deliver because we will be here seven days a week.”
While plans for the store have not been finalised yet, Mr Gone said he hoped Mr Pallapothu and himself could continue the legacy left by the Walters of supporting the community.
“When it comes to supporting the community, we’re going to be trying our best,” he said.
“We’ll support as much as we can.
“We just want to try our best and continue the legacy they built over the last 20 years – we won’t let them down for sure.
“We hope people will welcome us in the way we are expecting, because we are trying our best to mingle.”
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