Betta Gets Much, Much Bigger

December 14, 2020

Kingaroy’s Betta Home Living store will be doubling in size and offering furniture as well as home appliances when an extension at the rear of their new Kingaroy Street premises opens early next year.

The extension will roughly double the floorspace Betta had at its former Alford Street site, from 700sq m to about 1400sq m.

And sometime in the foreseeable future – as soon as owners Brett and Lori Hall and Jamie and Catherine Ogden can install an elevator – the building will open a second storey devoted solely to home furnishings.

This second extension will effectively triple the floorspace available at Betta’s former location.

The upgrade plans were unveiled on Monday night at the Kingaroy Chamber Of Commerce and Industry’s Annual General Meeting, which was held inside the new Betta Home Living store at 102 Kingaroy Street – the former Samios building (Samios moved to First Avenue in 2018).

Brett Hall told the audience he and Lori had worked in Murgon for the past eight years.

When the opportunity to take over the Kingaroy franchise came up, they discussed it with their business partners, Jamie and Catherine from Kingaroy Affordable Furniture, and decided to combine the two businesses under one roof.

The new Betta store is now open from 8:30am to 5:00pm on weekdays and 9:00am to 2:00pm on weekends.

It can also arrange deliveries for furniture and other bulky items.

Brett said the quartet had experienced a few delays getting phone, internet and EFTPOS facilities set up, but the business hopes these will be ironed out by early in the New Year.

[UPDATED with correction]

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Work on the Kingaroy Transformation Project (KTP) will begin in early January next year, but this will intensify significantly in February when the project begins in earnest.

KTP Project Manager Alan Christensen, from ATC Engineers, said most of the work currently being undertaken involved public consultation and planning.

However, once the project gets fully under way in the New Year he expected the public would get regular – possibly weekly – updates on progress through media releases and other channels.

Mr Christensen said he was very pleased to report that six graduate engineers and senior technical officers employed by the South Burnett Regional Council – four men and two women – have been seconded to the KTP to give them experience of a large-scale civil engineering project.

This would allow them to gain new skills, and hopefully encourage them to continue to work for Council in the future.

Mr Christensen said another aim of the $13.9 million project was to use local businesses as much as possible.

This was partly to ensure maximum benefit to the local economy, and partly to build capacity among local contractors for future projects.

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The KCCI hopes to release its five and 10-year strategic plans for the future direction of the organisation early in 2021.

President Damien Martoo said the plans were being developed by the KCCI executive following a recent facilitation workshop organised to brainstorm ideas.

In his President’s report, Damien said the strategic plans would cap off what has been a fairly momentous year for KCCI members and the world in general.

While most of the region appeared to have survived the COVID-19 pandemic fairly well, he knew some businesses had struggled and the KCCI was ready to assist where it could.

As part of its COVID-19 response, the KCCI had organised Zoom meetings during the height of the lockdown period.

And just recently – with restrictions easing – it had organised a business breakfast with guest speakers from Gympie Chamber Of Commerce and Gympie Regional Council.

Damien said while the KCCI was pleased to see the new Kingaroy Hospital take shape, it was disappointing that more business hadn’t found its way to local firms despite the group’s efforts.

Against this, the KCCI was pleased to see work about to begin on the KTP.

This was a project the KCCI had worked for at least three years with South Burnett Regional Council to get going .

During the past year the KCCI had also given two $1000 bursaries to students from Kingaroy State High School and St Mary’s Catholic College, and had sponsored an online version of the Miss BaconFest competition when the 2020 festival was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The KCCI also endorsed the formation of the Visit South Burnett local tourism organisation this year, and was actively involved in a number of committees and groups covering everything from the CBD’s transformation to crime reduction strategies and regional economic development.

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Three new members will join the KCCI’s 12-person Executive this year to fill places vacated by long-serving members Tonia Gilbert, Kirstie Schumacher and Todd Fiedler.

The three new members are Steven Fiedler (Fiedler Brothers Plumbing), Lachlan Brown (Pakaderinga Feedlot) and Lewis McKee (Stanwell Corporation).

They will join Nina Temperton (South Burnett CTC), Chrys McDuffie (Downer), Darrin Kefford (Kingaroy Joinery), Daniel Pelcl (Burnett Today), Christine Maunder (Westpac) and David Musch (Ken Mills Toyota).

Damien Martoo (The Martoo Review) was re-elected president for 2021, along with vice-president Jacqui Trace (Bill Hull Car Centre) and secretary-treasurer Paula Greenwood.

  KCCI