Changing of the guard: Russell and Angela Reddie are retiring as the owners of Choices Flooring Echuca, with the couple's son Todd and wife Amber taking over running the store.
Photo by
Gregor Mactaggart
Today marks the end of an era at Choices Flooring Echuca.
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Owners Russell and Angela Reddie are retiring after 22 years running the business in Annesley St with son Todd and his wife Amber taking over.
As Russell explained, this has been a moment in the making for a little while.
“A couple of years ago, Todd, who is a chippy (carpenter) by trade, and Amber expressed their interest in taking the business over,” he said.
“Amber’s been working with us on and off over the last four years and Todd for about 12 months or so, while he’s still going with the chippy work on the side.
“Ange and I are rapt to have Todd and Amber take over the family business.”
The Reddies opened what was then known as Rich River Carpet Choice in January 2001, having moved to the twin towns from Colac.
“I ran the store in Colac for someone else and when the opportunity arose for us to run our own store in Echuca, we took the plunge,” Russell said.
“For the first 10 years, Ange and I ran the shop ourselves, we started work at 6.30 every morning and probably got home about 7 every night.
“I used to do all the measures/quotes at home after we closed the shop.
“I can still remember when we had one installer and now we’ve got five wonderful installers working alongside us — Ash, Billy, Bernie, Derek and Sam.
Angela reflected on the couple’s journey in business.
“The growth of the town has been just unbelievable,” she said.
“There’s been a lot of changes/growth in the two towns.
“When we started, homes were smaller and customers could only imagine how product samples would look in larger sizes and specific space, and we had to co-ordinate window furnishings elsewhere.”
Today, Choices Flooring Echuca is a one-stop shop for flooring and window furnishings, with modern technology showing customers how products look in their project space — even before visiting the showroom — due to the popular RoomView function.
Other key milestones include three expansions of the Annesley St store and the development of an offsite warehouse on the Northern Hwy.
The business has gone from strength to strength, but as Ange explained there were some challenging times along the way.
“We got through COVID and some health issues,” she said.
“I had a heart attack which required a triple bypass.
“That was a tough time, but I’d like to thank Krissy and Darryl Smith who stepped in for three months to run the business for us.”
Thankfully, Angela is now fighting fit and looking forward to a decent holiday.
“We’ve got the caravan, so we’ll head up to Queensland for a little while,” she said.
“We haven’t booked anywhere, no commitments, we’ll just take our time and relax for a while.
“When we first started the kids (Todd and Gemma) were in primary school.
“Todd and Amber have two little ones (Billie, 3, and Koby, nine months), so this sets up the opportunity for them.”
New era: Todd and Amber Reddie are the new owners of Choices Flooring Echuca.
Photo by
Gregor Mactaggart
Todd said he and Amber are excited about the chance to run Choices Flooring Echuca.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Todd said.
“Amber and I were talking about (taking over) and I couldn’t see myself chippying for the rest of my life.
“Saying that, my experience as a chippy does complement what we do in floors.”
Angela even said both her and Russell would be on hand to assist Todd and Amber, only after a good break of course.
“Get that down in writing,” Amber joked.
“I’ll come back and help out … definitely,” Angela said.
“We’ve loved it honestly; we still spring out of bed every morning … it has not been a chore to us at any point over the 22 years.”
Todd and Amber’s first day as the new owners is Monday, July 10.
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