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Outback Stores forms partnerships with Indigenous communities to manage their stores. It is a fee-for-service arrangement and any profits go to projects chosen by local residents.
Usually, a community will approach Outback Stores with a proposal to take over the management of a store that may not be operating successfully for one reason or another.
Outback Stores starts by looking at the store. It talks to community leaders about its financial status, their expectations and Outback Stores’ rules.
Stores must be, or have the potential to be, commercially successful, so Outback Stores will look carefully at the financial records. (The only exception is if support funding is provided by an outside source.)
If both parties still want to work together, an agreement between the community and Outback Stores is signed.
These agreements vary from community to community but Outback Stores insists on three key points:
- It is the job of Outback Stores to run the store;
- Store managers work for Outback Stores; and,
- There is no “book up”.
Conditions can be tailored to different communities’ needs, such as how profits are shared, the range of goods sold and opening hours.
Once the decision has been made for Outback Stores to manage a shop, things happen quite quickly.
A store committee made up of local residents is formed and managers are chosen and trained by Outback Stores.
Once the managers are in place, they hire store workers from the community and start setting up and stocking the store.
The stores operate like any other shop except that the managers are very focused on wellbeing outcomes and working with the local community.
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