Residents throw support behind Spudshed

Hundreds of people threw their voices behind a Facebook post by Murray-Wellington MLA Murray Cowper in an effort to attract a Spudshed fresh food market to the region.

In a series of posts on the social networking site a week ago Mr Cowper asked people to ‘like’ his post to show Spudshed owner Tony Galati there was support for him to open of one of his markets in Australind.

The post uploaded to four community pages on Thursday night attracted hundreds of ‘likes’ and comments.

On the post Mr Cowper said he had spoken to Mr Galati about building another Spudshed in the South West.

“I am trying to convince him to build it in Australind, ” he wrote.

“Let’s see how many likes (we get) and we might be able to convince him.”

Mr Cowper said during a conversation with Mr Galati, the businessman and farmer said he was considering opening another store after his new Kelmscott shop opened its doors on Saturday.

“I happened to bump into Tony at Myalup and he said he was going to build another store, so I said how about you open one down Australind way, ” Mr Cowper said.

“I’ll talk to Tony and say, based on social media, it would be popular. I think it would be a good idea, but at the end of the day it has to be commercially viable for him.”

Harvey shire president Tania Jackson said Spudshed’s owners had shown some interest in moving to the area in the past.

“Spudshed first approached the planning staff a couple of years ago, ” Cr Jackson said.

She said while no formal application had been made to the council, there was support for the move.

“We’ve always thought there was a place for Spudshed, given they have so much production at Myalup, ” she said.

A Spudshed spokesman could not confirm whether the company had plans to move to Australind.

“We’re interested in expanding in to the southern corridor – we’re looking at various options, ” he said.