Stirling Variety Meats, a beloved Adelaide Hills butcher, has found a new home after a fire ripped through their store last October.
Chris and Giselle Pfitzner were left to pick up the pieces at their iconic Stirling venue, but say they have found a silver lining amongst all the chaos, opening a new store in Mount Barker.
“It ticks a lot of boxes for us,” Giselle said about the new space,” Giselle said.
“We’re going back and forth with CAD design to try and work out where things will go.
“That’s been really fun because we’ve finally been able to design what we want and where we want it. I’ve been designing the interior and front of the store, making it inviting and warm while Chris has been busy planning what he wants for out the back, it’s been really fun and exciting.
Just 10 minutes from their previous Stirling store, the team are dedicated keeping their ‘traditional butcher’ service alive, the team have made it their mission to keep that traditional alive and serve the finest and freshest quality meats to their loyal customers.
“The building in Stirling is going to take a fair while to build, we haven’t been given a timeline, but I do have full confidence that the next building will be something amazing,” Giselle said.
“When we moved our store in Stirling we had someone else design the space so now being in charge of this new space, it’s a whole new beginning.”
“We do really want to go back but we are so thankful for this space in Mount Barker. It’s allowed us to keep our business alive and keep all of our staff which we are just so thankful for.”
The crew will keep the Stirling brand name, as they intend to return to their roots once the centre is rebuilt in a few years time while retaining the Mount Barker store.
The $25m fire left seven speciality businesses out of pocket, with Stirling Meats estimating $300,000 in lost machinery alone. Some stores were either forced to relocate or close entirely, the mall was demolished earlier this year after it was deemed structurally unsound.
The family owned and operated business has been adored by Adelaide Hills locals since 2004, using traditional methods to produce the fullest range of fresh meats, prime cuts and other related produces. From free range quality beef, lamb, pork, chicken, sausages and other related goodies, the crew has something for everyone.
Over the last four months, Giselle said her and Chris have been overwhelmed with the support from the local community and beyond.
“We’ve been really surprised by just how much we mean to people,” Giselle said.
“But after Chris and I thought about it, we’ve had customers who we’ve know since kids become members of staff, we’ve attended customers weddings. I think we get so lost in the day to day that when it all happened and the messages started coming through, we knew we were doing something right.”
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