DIPPER’S Home Timber and Hardware in Moree is running out of wall space to display plaques of achievement and recognition after recently being named National Store of the Year – for the second time in a decade.

The honour came at the Independent Hardware Group Awards of Excellence in Adelaide last month, and store owner Bec Diprose and site manager Mark Baker were there to proudly take a bow – several, in fact.

Dipper’s won the prestigious National award in 2014 – after just two years of trade – as well as NSW Store of the Year in 2021 and 2022.

Bec said Dipper’s underwent extensive upgrades and expansion in recent years to become a Home Hardware Sapphire Store – the internal moniker for a store that undergoes a complete refurbishment. This includes major stock overhauls and upgrades, rebranding and refreshing.

“In our case, we also undertook additional significant build works to provide a better hardware store layout for our customers,” Bec said.

Customers now have a new, off-street spacious carpark and entrance to a much bigger store, and tradesmen can drive through when collecting timber and building materials.

Mark Baker jokingly recalled how Bec had a vision – and it scared the living daylights out of him.

“Bec wanted a hardware store that was that pretty and that beautiful, that it looked like a dress shop,” he laughed.

“Thank God for the good people from Independent Hardware Group, who came along and saved my life.

“The best thing that ever happened to our store, and the best thing that ever happened to our town, was ‘sapphire’, and I thank IHG for creating it,” he said.

Last November marked 12 years since the evolvement of Dipper’s, now a household name in Moree and the wider district.

It is also 10 years since Dipper’s won the National Store of the Year title.

“Ten years ago, almost to the day, we received this exact award,” Bec said.

“At the time, it was Dipper, Col Pring and myself. We were only two years into the hardware journey and we came from an agricultural background, so it was all quite new to us.

“We doubled our turnover in the space of two years, which was incredibly fulfilling.

“Dipper’s today is very, very different to what it was 10 years ago, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge in that time,” she said.

Anthony ‘Dipper’ Diprose died suddenly in 2017 at just 47 years of age.

He was an astute businessman who aimed big and aimed high, and always had his community at heart.

Bec’s dream for Dipper’s Home Timber and Hardware – Dipper’s legacy – continues.

“Dipper left us very unexpectedly seven-and-a-half years ago and we have continued to forge forward and create – what I like to call – the new Dipper’s, with a female-friendly shopping environment,” Bec smiled.

“We went through some unimaginable grief for those first few years, and at the same time it was the first two years of the worst drought that we’ve ever seen in the Moree district.

“In an agricultural town, that’s incredibly stressful on a business. We then flipped that into two years of COVID craziness.

“After all that, we decided we better sharpen up our shop and future-proof ourselves,” she said.

“I don’t like doing things by halves, so we embarked on a sapphire journey, and it is the best thing we’ve ever done.

“We have a store that we’re incredibly proud of, and a town we’re incredibly proud of,” Bec said.

It’s often said it takes a village to raise children.

“I know that, having three beautiful children – George, Millie and Izzie. Dipper’s is another baby of mine, and it’s taken a village to raise what we have,” she smiled.

Bec said the almost-decade-long journey to creating a Moree hardware superstore wasn’t possible without her incredible staff, led by Mark Baker, and supported by former retail manager Luke Cubis.

“Mark has been by my side for the last seven-and-a-half years helping me work out how we best create the best store in town.

“We’re incredibly proud of our store, and incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to do what we’ve done,” she said.

DIPPER’S Home Timber and Hardware Moree

Address: 398 Warialda Street, Moree

Trading: Monday to Friday 7am until 5pm; Saturday 8am until midday; and Sunday 9am until midday

Phone: 6752 2233

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.homehardware.com.au/stores/nsw/moree-dippers-home-timber-hardware-101873

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DippersHomeTimberHardware

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dippers_hth/?hl=en