TWO Mooloolah businesses, the Mooloolah Newsagency and White’s IGA Mooloolah, have won a total of three top business awards at the recent 2023 Glassies.
Mooloolah Newsagency owner, Natalie Lelievre, won the Glasshouse Mountains Silver Business Glassie and the Glasshouse Mountains Silver Employee Glassie.
Natalie told GC&M News she started the business five years ago after moving to the Sunshine Coast from Canberra, after working in the Australian Federal Police. Wanting a career change, she decided to go into business with her mum.
She said she wouldn’t still be open if it wasn’t for her community always supporting her and her business.
“We don’t have as much foot traffic as other popular tourist towns but we’ve got the heart and we have locals who support us, some people come from the other side of the highway to see me, just because they want to come in and have a chat,” she said.
“I love my community, I’m always here if they need me and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else and if I didn’t have this, I’d probably move up north, but I’d want to take the town with me.
“I’ve never been accepted into such a big community, and now I have hundreds of family members here.”
Longtime White’s IGA employee Jodie Pember, was inducted into the Glassie Hall of Fame after winning three Gold and Silver Employee Glassies, working at two seperate IGAs.
“I was the first person to win the gold employee Glassie seven years ago, and I’m the first employee to go into the hall of fame, it feels fabulous, and to have done it at two different shops, because I got the first won at Glasshouse IGA,” Jodie said.
“I think people vote for me for my friendliness and just my ability to help them I think, just going above and beyond and I am really into this community.
“We do a lot of community initiatives at the White’s Mooloolah IGA too and I am available to community groups, which I think helps too.”
Natalie added that now that she has won multiple Glassies for her business, she can use them to prove to her landlord her business is vital to the foundation of the community.
“It’s great to have some recognition that we can show my landlord… fingers crossed we can stay another five years, it just depends on the economy, foot traffic and if the landlord increases our rent,” she said.
“We won the Glasshouse Region Silver Business Glassie last year too.”
