Outback Stores is looking forward to working with Yarralin, located 410km southwest of Katherine and home to 300 people.

The community is situated on the banks of the Wickham River, which floods often, impacting food security. Walangeri Ngumpinku Aboriginal Corporation reached out to Outback Stores for support to ensure there would be minimal disruption right before the next wet season arrives.

“We’ve been running the store independently since 2022 and unfortunately it’s become too difficult to manage by ourselves. Gone are the days when all you needed was a cash register and some stock to run a local store. The legislative requirements around licensing, and food safety, getting IT support for the computer programs and systems needed, and the low purchasing power of a small independent store all added significantly to our costs and the time required to manage the store.

Outback Stores Australia operate over 50+ stores across Australia. Their team are well-versed in the legislative requirements, with back-end IT support available at a moment’s notice, and purchasing power which will help keep costs down for our community, as well as visitors. We were also impressed with their training program, which will see our local staff receive formal certified training which will allow us to manage the store with more local managers.” – Walangeri Ngumpinku Aboriginal Corporation

Outback Stores’ support team are currently onboarding the store, organising orders and establishing processes, while store managers Brian and Janine are on the ground and already delivering great customer service to the community.

Yarralin is the 56th store under Outback Stores’ management.

We look forward to working with Outback Stores and seeing the prices on a core range of products come down, benefiting community.

– Walangeri Ngumpinku Aboriginal Corporation

Since 2018 we have worked with Monash University hosting students that are studying Nutrition and Dietetics for their Community Nutrition Placement. This week we welcomed Calista, Raquel, Sara and Jessica, who will be completing their placement with us for ten weeks until 22 November.

One of our key metrics is to increase fresh fruit and vegetable volume by 2.5% every year. The students project will support this goal by updating existing training guides, reports and resources. This will help streamline the process for store managers and their teams.

As always, our nutrition team will accompany the students during their remote travel to stores. This will provide them with an insight into how our stores operate as well as how we manage, promote and display fruit and vegetables to ensure our customers have access to affordable and quality fresh produce.

Welcome to Outback Stores,  Calista, Jessica, Raquel and Sara!

​For the past three years Outback Stores has been proud to sponsor Bush Bands Bash, an annual celebration of Indigenous music organised by Music NT.

Held at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, the concert is the culmination of a four-day intensive workshop called Bush Bands Business, honing performance skills and music biz knowledge with industry professionals and music mentors.

This year marked the 20^th anniversary of Bush Bands Bash and featured performances by emerging talent from remote communities, as well as desert reggae legends, Tjupi Band from Papunya.

Tjupi Band guitarist Jason Butcher has lost count of the number of times the band has performed at Bush Bands Bash. He has been involved with it since his father, Sammy Butcher of the iconic Warumpi Band, first conceived of the idea to create a concert opportunity for emerging bands in remote communities.

Sammy Butcher took the idea to the Central Australia Aboriginal Media Association and together they organised the first event in 2004, held near Anzac Oval and featuring only a handful of bands.

This year Bush Bands Bash showcased 10 performances, featuring at least 8 different languages. Jason Butcher has noticed over the years a greater diversity in musical genres represented, and more female artists emerging.

We’ve developed industry knowledge to take our music to the next level. 

– Jessica LA

Jessica LA is a Western Arrernte/Luritja woman now living in Darwin, who enjoyed the four-day music business workshop.

“We’ve developed industry knowledge to take our music to the next level. We learned about copyright laws, vocal training, self-management and working with others on stage,” says Jessica.

Tara Rostron is a musician from Maningrida and member of Ripple Effect band. She was chosen to be one of five Remote Music Rangers to take part in a special mentoring program of Bush Bands Business. They learned how to set up concert equipment, how to use the mixing desks and how to care for musical instruments.

“I really love what I’ve been learning and want to take my skills back to my community so that in the future the kids there can do it themselves,” says Tara.

Outback Stores congratulates all the performers, mentors and organisers of this year’s Bush Bands Bash!

I really love what I’ve been learning and want to take my skills back to my community.

– Tara Rostron

The 20th anniversary line-up:

1. Blackstone Daylight Band (from Papulankutju singing in Ngaanyatjarra & English)
2. James Range Band (from Utju, singing in Pitjantjatjara & English)
3. Jessica LA (Australian/Western Arrernte/Luritja woman from Awabakal country, singing in English)
4. Tjupi Band (From Papunya, singing in Luritja & English)
5. Newboys Band (From Arlparra, singing in Alyawarr & English)
6. Bronwyn Stuart (from Ntaria, singing in English)
7. Desert Melody Makers (from Yuendumu, singing in Walpiri & English)
8. Myles (rapping in Arernte)
9. Drifting Clouds (from Gapuwiyak, singing in Djambarrpuyngu & English)
10. Family Shoveller Band (from Bidyadanga, singing in Karajarri)

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The annual Bush Bands program is presented by MusicNT, the peak body for music in the Northern Territory. Their mission is to support the growth and development of the contemporary music industry in the Northern Territory. Find out more about their suite of programs on the MusicNT website.

Janyima Store (Bulla Store), located south-west of Darwin, is under new management, the store directors have announced.

Shadrack Retchford, local store director, said the community is grateful for Outback Stores’ assistance, as the store has not operated for several years.

“We’re looking forward to working with Outback Stores. We are very excited, and the community can’t wait to have their store back up and running. It has been a long time since the store was closed”.

The past years have seen flooding during the wet season, with the community relying on food drops. The community hopes to have a long-term food security solution for its residents, with the assistance of Outback Stores.

“It makes it very easy for us to get our groceries. Our residents won’t need to travel to Timber Creek to get food. Those that have no transport will now have access to essential items within the community.”

Outback Stores has invested significant resources to get the store ready for trading, contributing $60k to procure stock and assisting the store with a further funding of over $200k to improve the store infrastructure.

We are very excited, and the community can’t wait to have their store back up and running. 

– Shadrack Retchford