Battery World Lismore has reopened post-flood with a new look shop, whilst also celebrating its 20-year anniversary this year.

It is a story not too dissimilar to many of our businesses. From the initial disaster, to the rebuild and reopening, a sense of optimism and a passion to serve the community was their motivation the whole way.

The Lismore App spoke to Battery World Lismore Franchise Partner Greg Wooley, about the stores journey, particularly the last 12 months.

“It has been a long road,” he said.

“From the day that we opened those front doors - and we couldn't even get the doors open - it was like someone got in here with a stirring stick, stuff that was down the back was the front.”

“I've lived here all my life, and I've never seen floods do that sort of damage.”

“There were 10 cars in the carpark, and when we come back, they were all over the place. There was a fair bit of damage around, luckily the building held up quite well.”

“We got inside and you couldn't hardly stand up the mud was that thick, and then the tank that we had out the back leaked, and it got over everything, so we had a mixture mud and oil.”

“We lost pretty much everything, because like everyone, we weren't expecting that sort of level.”

Greg and the team reopened the shop officially just before Christmas, but opened a pop-up shop in the workshop earlier in the year to ensure they could keep servicing.

“Probably just after that second flood, we made a store that just had some shelving with some stuff on it, and operated out of there. Pretty much within those first few weeks too, we were still doing roadside callouts, so we never really stopped.”

“The amount of support from everyone was amazing.”

2023 also marks a significant milestone for the store, with their 20-year anniversary. Greg said he thoroughly enjoyed all of it, and is looking forward to continuing, with the flood allowing them to remodel to store too.

“We're still here after 20 years, and I’ve still got the passion for it well and truly.”

“This store is completely different now; it is the new store layout.”

“We had to do a lot of this eventually anyway, so it worked well in a way, with having the 20-year anniversary, we can say there's a new store, or new feel store.”

“There’s a new floor, we've put epoxy flooring down, because it was carpet originally, and of course that doesn't go well with water. So, if we happen to get some more, well hopefully, the floor will withstand the problem of mud – and whatever else was in that water!”

“A few other big flood changes, we’ve moved the air conditioning up, the electronics, anything we could move up we did.”

Looking forward, Greg said Lismore needs some serious flood mitigation work done to ensure homes and businesses can survive.

“To entice people back here, they've got to have some assurance - I mean, you might not stop it completely, but be able to stop a lot of it – you’ve got to give some confidence to business.”

“The powers that be need to address this and try address what happens after the flood too, because we've got to try and control the flood to some degree.”

“People say it can't be done, but they put people on the moon, so someone can do something.”