Established in 1997 by Karen Bigg, the store began in a shared building with its parent company IK Caldwell on Benalla Rd in Shepparton.
Karen’s father was successfully running the agricultural business and was looking to expand its range to include cleaning supplies.
But Karen saw a need in the market for something more.
And so, the idea of Everyday Supplies was born.
“It was wonderful, we jumped in feet first, I suppose,” Karen said.
Karen had the business acumen but needed someone who knew the product and how to use it.
Immediately Ken McCarty came to mind.
Having had his own cleaning business for decades, Karen and her family knew Ken would be the crown jewel in Everyday Supplies.
He was offered a sales representative position.
Ken’s daughter and current co-owner of Everyday Supplies, Jac McCarty, has fond memories of her father beginning his journey with the business.
“They started in this tiny little shop and had this tiny little floor space,” she said.
“It had a row of chemicals, a row of toilet paper and a row of brooms, some scourers, cloth and not much else.”
The store was initially made up of a team of four, including Karen, Ken, Jeanette Sabri on sales and Gary Popilier on deliveries.
Karen said being under the umbrella of IK Caldwell, they utilised the contacts of orchardists and commercial businesses to help “get it off the ground”, but in the beginning, the team did what they could to recruit new clients.
Jac recalls her father going the extra mile to try and gain business — a bicycle also came in handy to conduct letterbox drops.
“They had a second-hand car and second-hand everything; Dad physically had to get out on the road and draft customers,” she said.
“He drove all over the Goulburn Valley and he literally just cold called, he said ‘this is who we are, this is what we’re going to do’.
“But it was literally from nothing.”
Karen said initially, they approached smaller to medium businesses to try and build clientele.
Having been a cleaner dedicated mostly to schools, Ken stuck to what he knew and focused on smaller schools across the region who may not have been offered the same services as larger ones.
In addition, the business catered to commercial and industrial entities of orchards, caravan parks and the like.
Fast-forward nine years, and Everyday Supplies had outgrown its Benalla Rd store and warehouse.
In August 2006, the business made the move to its current premises at 28-36 New Dookie Rd, Shepparton, equipped with more space in the warehouse, floorspace and to keep up with demand, a new Everyday Supplies branded delivery van.
As Karen and Ken were nearing retirement, Ken’s health began to decline quite rapidly and tragically, he passed away in 2019.
Jac and her husband Brad Hill took over the business in March 2019 with one main goal: to keep Ken’s legacy going.
“This was his baby, whilst it was he and Kaz’s, it was always his baby and I wanted him to know it would be okay, it would be looked after and that we’d keep the customer service,” Jac said.
“That was his biggest thing — you drop everything for your customer, and if they need it they get it now.”
Now with a team of seven, Everyday Supplies has opened its doors for the community, as well as larger commercial sites.
Karen said aside from the friendships made with customers over the years, one of the business’ greatest achievements was that it was “still going strong today”.
“They've done a wonderful job with it since, I'm very proud of them,” Karen said.
“And I’m really pleased it’s still in the family, it’s nice to see it still going.”
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