Rounding out National Newsagent Week is Theresa and Steve, the friendly faces at Leeming Newsagency and and Samantha Evans, who had the original idea of starting a National Newsagents Week, to find out what it means to them.
Theresa and Steve, from Leeming Newsagency
The duo are passionate about giving back to the community and actively contributing, by hosting their annual lion dance in celebration of Chinese New Year festivities and other yearly fundraising efforts.
The favourite part about their job is seeing their service pay off, including a recent customer who thanked them for making his dad’s Father’s Day a memorable one, with a $500 scratchie win – his best ever!
“We were elated with the good news and felt our hard work on that busy day paid off!” Theresa said
They also enjoy making their customers feel special by celebrating their birthday’s with them.
“We like to present out customers with a birthday card on their special day,” she said.
“Our motto here is to keep smiling, and it makes our day to see our customers smiling back!”
Samantha Evans, from XchangeIT Link
Samantha has been in the newsagent industry for 10 years and thought of the idea of formally celebrating newsagents, after feeling inspired from a conference she attended. She said the vision behind the week was to establish a time to appreciate our local friendly newsagents and the role they play in their community.
“One day for newsagents didn’t sound long enough. We thought Newsagents deserved a whole week!” Samantha said.
“They work long hours, employing local staff, serving local customers, providing a friendly face. They’re often great supporters of local causes and events too.”
“National Newsagent Week is a time to appreciate your local friendly newsagent and the role they play in their community.”
She emphasised the role they’ve played during the challenging time of COVID-19 time, providing an essential service and also providing important supplies for those working from home.
“Newsagents have well and truly been the community heartbeat throughout this pandemic,” she said.
