Business
15 November, 2024
Officeworks a family job
IT’S a family affair at the newest and one of the three largest Officeworks in Australia which has just opened in Cairns.
The store is managed by Alana Elian and also working at the Portsmith store are her parents Eve and Richard Kilpatrick.
Her mother and father replenish the shelves but they have a long history with parent company Wesfarmers, Mr Kilpatrick for 47 years and his wife for 40 years. Mrs Kilpatrick has spent 15 years at Officeworks and her husband two years. The couple came out of retirement to re-enter the workforce.
The store’s relocation marks a new chapter for Ms Elian. The Cairns local has been with Officeworks for 13 years and Wesfarmers for 23. She started on the shop floor at Officeworks and advanced into leadership roles.
Making the transition even more special, Ms Elian has the privilege of working alongside her parents.
“We are all so proud to bring this fresh new layout to Cairns, offering a wider range of products and more engaging shopping experiences for our customers,” she said.
“This expansion reflects our commitment to serving Cairns with the best Officeworks has to offer and we’re looking forward to welcoming everyone into the store.” The new store is in Spence St opposite Barlow Park, Portsmith, on the site of former Turners Home Appliances.
The multimillion-dollar building is 1200sqm larger (2870sqm) than the previous Water St store (1603sqm) and features almost double the number of car parks, from 50 to 98.
Officeworks head of property Kylie Brockett said Bryant Building Contractors were the main contractor who took just over a year to construct the building.
“It’s taken over 34,000 hours of on-site work conducted by trades to build the store. This included 400 workers inducted (400 different people involved in building the store) with most of these people from the local Cairns community,” she said. .
“The new Cairns store will have over 70 team members – this includes 20 new local recruits. We also have employed three new team members (young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men) from the Clontarf Program.
The new store will carry over an impressive 27,000 products, a significant increase compared to the previous store’s product range. Ms Brockett said over the past six weeks the team had worked tirelessly to ensure a seamless transition between locations.
The Cairns community is invited to a special free community fun day on Saturday, November 16 from 11am-1pm, including free arts and crafts workshops, face painting, exclusive giveaways and complimentary coffee.
