Neighbouring business No.5 Church St will prepare and cook food out the front of the store all day and local and national suppliers have donated presents for the celebrations.

A successful 10 years in town is not the only reason for merriment, Kombu is also celebrating its busiest year so far.

Store partners Kevin and Lowanna Doye are understandably delighted: “This is a great result for us and for the local area. After starting the store on the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme a decade ago there is now a fantastic and passionate team of 15 working with us. We feel honoured to be based in such an incredible community, and work hard to sell good food as affordably as we can. The ongoing growth in sales shows that it is a formula that obviously is popular with local consumers as well.”

It is not only locals who are increasingly turning to healthy, organic and locally grown produce, regular customers now come from as far afield as Armidale, Woolgoolga, Nambucca and Tamworth.

The online store has also seen a significant growth in sales over the last six months with additional staff employed to manage digital sales.

“We are keen to sell as much local produce as we can – and also to sell to regional areas where residents may not have access to organic and health food,” Kevin said.

“These sales are also great for the local economy – money comes into the area from across Australia and is then used again to support local growers and manufacturers.”

As part of its mission to maximise sales of local lines, Kombu recently introduced another new initiative – Love Local. The aim of Love Local is to increase the range and affordability of local produce and products in store (more than 300 local lines are available at a 10 per cent discount to all Love Local card holders).

Local produce coordinator Damian Harrison said fun and community is also a crucial part of the equation: “Local food is not just about buying food that is locally produced, it is also about bringing community together and sharing the experience. As well as offering discounts on local food in store we also aim to run farm visits, local food evenings and also produce an occasional newsletter full of local food news, information, offers and recipes.”

The belief that returns from taking positive social and environmental actions are as important as the financial returns underpin the decision making process in store. Kombu is run along informal not-for-profit lines with prices kept as low as possible while payments to growers and producers are maximised.

The majority of profits are reinvested into the store, into the local community, and into donations to campaigning organisations (examples include food to Sea Shepherd and the successful Coal Seam Gas campaign at Bentley) that are working for positive change. The store also recently worked with a local youth focussed environmental organisation on the development of a local food garden outside the front of the store, and is now working with the same organisation on a new environmental campaign that will be launched in November.