Kaipara Business Wins Retail Excellence Award!

Racheal and Robbie Hinsch of Paparoa won the Excellence in Retail Category at the Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards for 2010 on Saturday night. The Kaipara couple have two retail businesses; The Sunshine Organics Store in Maungaturoto and The Paparoa Store, both of which caught the eye of Kaipara District Council when looking for local talent to enter the awards. Originally from Christchurch, Rachel and Robbie are great Kaipara people; they are hard working and innovative and have built their business around their passion for healthy living and preserving the environment. Despite the economic down turn and the rigorous entry process the number of contestants was up on last year with seven high quality Kaipara business applications received.

Mayor Neil Tiller was impressed with the large number of Kaipara entrants and delighted that a local business won the competitive retail section. “Retail is one of the most competitive categories and I feel many of our local businesses will feel inspired by this win”

Waitangi National Trust was the Supreme 2010 Westpac Northland Business of the Year and also took out the Destination Northland Tourism and Hospitality Category with 50 Northland businesses competing across 8 business categories. Tony Collins from the Northland Chamber of Commerce said that “...the awards were a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the success of many Northland businesses. These enterprises were of varying size and often very different structure and scale. The one thing they all had in common was their passion for what they were doing and their commitment to succeed.”

Other winners were:

• Sport Northland - winner of the New Zealand Refining Company Excellence in Business Category
• Smart Energy Solutions - winner of the Business Coaching New Zealand Best Emerging Business Category. The Judges also highly commended the Pear Tree Restaurant and Bar and Elevate CA Limited in this category.
• StaffCare Limited - winner of the Argon Construction Excellence in Professional Services Category. The Judges also highly commended the Buchanans Amcal Pharmacy in this category.
• Rintoul Civil Limited - winner of the Golden Bay Cement Excellence in Construction Manufacturing and Trades Category. The Judges also highly commended Airzone Limited in this category.