Finish date insight for storeaccess overhaul

A YEARS-long project to improve accessibility for the Haddon General Store is nearing completion.

The business presides over the town from Racecourse Road as the sole source of goods and petrol for Haddon and the shop’s owner, Sharon McNeight, said an overhaul of the entrance is almost finished.

She said the main aim behind the project is to make it easier for everyone to access Haddon’s signature store.

“It’s to make the building more accessible for everyone,” Ms McNeight said.

“We’ve built a concrete verandah out the front with a wheelchair-accessible ramp at one end of the stairs and there’ll be handrails that go along those once it’s finished.

“Normally, we’ve got dirt with bitumen on it so it was very unfriendly for customers to navigate that.”

The project has been an ongoing endeavour since the COVID-19 pandemic for Ms McNeight, who took over the business in 2019.

“There’s been alterations since we started this,” she said.

“Originally we were going to deck the whole shop with a bit of a ramp before going with the concrete path front instead.”

Since taking over the business, Ms McNeight has also expanded the site’s kitchen with hot meals provided two nights a week.

Ms McNeight said the construction of a more accessible entrance ramp has been a goal of hers for the shop since she bought it.

“We’ve got quite an elderly population out here so for them to either be able to use the ramp to walk up, or nice, tidy steps, it just makes it easier for them,” she said.

“We’ve already had a couple of people comment, now the ramp’s put in, that they have relations who’ll be able to access the shop now by themselves.”