Officeworks has reopened its Lismore store after floods destroyed the original store and much of the Lismore township earlier this year.
After 25 weeks of cleaning, repairing and refurbishing, Officeworks Lismore has reopened with a team of 42 including eight new local team members, an extended range and new store sustainability features.
While keeping the same 1,615 square metre selling area, the store has refreshed Australian-made brand signage internally and externally, new payment technology, an upgraded fit out with 55 new retail segments, a wider product range and polished flooring.
It features a larger technology display and pen unit, dedicated Apple and Microsoft benches, an extended art, craft and education range, and offers services such as Print + Create and on-site tech support with Geeks2U.
The store’s sustainability features have also been upgraded with 100% LED lighting reducing energy consumption, with solar panels due for installation to enable the store to run on solar energy.
The store also incorporates a new Bring It Back recycling unit as a collection point for customers to recycle unwanted or broken tech items, batteries, printer cartridges, pens and more.
Officeworks Lismore store business manager, Peter Walden said, “I’m so proud of our team who have worked so hard to get our store back up and operating. It has been a challenging time for so many of our team and for the broader community who have lost their homes and so much more, so we’re thrilled to have our store ready to re-open, and to take another step toward getting things back to normal.”
He added: “While the store was under construction, we made sure to provide the flexibility our team members needed as they rebuilt their own homes, and reassurance of job security for when we re-opened. In the interim, we provided other work opportunities for our team, either in the customer service centre, or at nearby Officeworks stores,” he said.
Officeworks together with its customers have donated funds and supplies to local organisations and community hubs, including providing $30,000 to the Lismore South Public School to rebuild school supplies via GIVIT Flood Relief, gifting $10,000 worth of books to the Lismore Library via GIVIT Flood Relief and donating $2,000 in cash and gift cards to the Lismore First Steps Early Learning Centre.
Together with partners 123Read2ME, it is estimated that 25,000 books have been sent to Lismore and other flood affected areas through the book collection initiative offered through select Officeworks stores in Victoria and South Australia.