Tokomaru Bay Four Square named Team of the Year: Steep learning curve after cyclone

Tokomaru Bay Four Square’s efforts in dealing with the fallout of Cyclone Gabrielle and other weather events has been recognised with the Team of the Year honours at this year’s Four Square “Charlies” awards held in Auckland. 

The Tokomaru Bay community was cut off from the rest of the North Island when Cyclone Gabrielle hammered Tairāwhiti last year. 

Since then, whenever it rains, there is concern from the community about what impact it will have. 

Isolation raises the issue of getting food and other supplies, but Four Square Tokomaru Bay has responded to this by working hard to make more products available and being able to serve the community even if telecommunications and power are lost and roads get closed. 

Owner-operator Mike Turney said he was incredibly humbled to have received the award on behalf of the Tokomaru Bay team. 

“Chelsea [co-owner] and I couldn’t be prouder of their resilience and dedication to serving our community.” 

The Charlies — named after the iconic Four Square Kiwiana mascot “Cheeky Charlie” — are presented each year and this year is extra special as Four Square marked its 100th birthday on July 4. 

Mike Turney, 33, and partner Chelsea Pascoe, 33, are the owner-operators of the Four Square. 

Along with the Team of the Year award, store manager Queenie Pohoiwi was nominated for the Local Hero of the Year award. 

Pohoiwi said she was a bit nervous about being nominated because she had never experienced anything like it before. 

She has worked at Four Square Tokomaru Bay for 21 years and has many stories from her time there. 

Pohoiwi worked through Covid-19 and the cyclones and other weather events, making sure stock was available and the staff knew what was going on. 

She helped Turney and Pascoe with the change of ownership and taught them “how things go in the akau (bay)”. 

“I love my job,” she said. 

Turney said the store would not be what it was today without her dedication, resilience and loyalty to the community. 

Owning a supermarket has always been a dream of Turney and Pascoe’s and it became a reality in June last year. 

“The first week of owning the store, a big storm came through and cut us off. It was a pretty radical first week of ownership of a supermarket,” Turney said. 

The Tokomaru Bay community stepped up to help keep the store running. 

People brought in generators to power the place and the store was able to keep operating through it and in the aftermath. 

Since then, Turney and Pascoe have been working on building up the store’s resilience, so the Tokomaru Bay community and surrounding districts always have access to food, communications and water. 

They sorted out the water situation by getting a new water filtration system. 

“It means we have the cleanest water in the East Coast.” 

He then decided to get more product in the store so that locals did not have to travel all the way to Gisborne to buy their groceries. 

Over 1200 new products have been made available. 

“The community can get access to everything they need without having to go to town.” 

Turney also bought a 1.4-tonne diesel generator that can be hooked up to the shop if power is lost. 

They continue to use a Star Link internet connection because of its reliability. 

“If the power goes out and telecommunications go down, we can keep the store running — no matter what — so our community can get what they need.” 

Throughout Turney’s takeover of the store, he has also given it a new look with signage that includes te reo Māori navigational signs and a welcoming at the door. 

Along with all this mahi, Turney and Pascoe are new parents of James — affectionately known as Hemi — who was born in November last year. 

“We want to say thank you to everyone in Tokomaru Bay who have supported us over the year and many more to come,” he said.