BY ALEX TIGANI
Hundreds of locals ventured down to the new Huntlee Coles for the supermarket’s opening day of operation last Wednesday.
Val Randall, a Greta resident of 83 years, was one of the store’s first ever customers just moments after she was invited to cut the ribbon by store manager Tim Hill.
She would share the honour with Cessnock mayor Bob Pynsent.
“This is such a beautiful shop,” she told The Hunter River Times.
“I was born in Greta and we would always do our shopping at Speight and Teaseys which was next door to the hairdressers.
“It changed hands over the years but it never changed in size and then there was the IGA at Branxton.”
Huntlee, the Hunter’s new town, currently holds a population of 1000 after given the green light by Council in 2013 (it is expected to eventually reach 20,000 in the long term).
The shopping centre will also include a barbershop, cafe, pharmacy, medical and dental practices, an optometrist, a nail salon as well as a kebab shop.
Moments after purchasing her dinner, some fresh snapper from the deli, we asked Ms Randall (a historian and author) if the store was worth the wait?
“Oh, God yes,” she concluded.
