Tanya Husband's Erbacher Family Fruit Shop Wins Australia's Favourite Store Again

A Sunshine Coast family fruit and vegetable store that began in an old chook shed has been voted Australia's favourite fruit and vegetable shop for the second year in a row, giving Erbacher's Fruit and Vegetables another national endorsement from its own customers. The store won the 'A better choice!' 2026 Retailer of the Year People's Choice Award after decades of trading from the same local base and building a customer following that now stretches well beyond the immediate neighbourhood.

Part-owner and third-generation Erbacher family member Tanya Husband welcomed the result and credited the store's community support and staff. Ms Husband started helping her grandparents at the store by collecting eggs when she was two years old. The business was founded by Eric and Thelma Erbacher in 1965 and is now run by Ms Husband alongside her father, brother and uncle, with wider family support.

The founder angle is central to why the win matters. Erbacher's is not a new brand trying to manufacture local character. It is a four-generation family business that has kept a practical retail promise over many years: fresh produce, old-fashioned service and a shop culture that regular customers recognise. In a region where growth can quickly turn familiar places into generic retail strips, that kind of continuity has commercial value and community value.

The store's second national win also says something about independent food retail. Supermarkets dominate convenience and scale, but customers still respond strongly when a local shop offers expertise, personal service and a sense that the people behind the counter know the produce. Ms Husband said the store still helps customers with shopping and carries groceries to cars for those who need an extra hand. Those details are small, but they are exactly the details that make a local business harder to replace.

The numbers behind the award show the competition was serious. Erbacher's beat 440 fruit and vegetable shops nationally and received 4405 votes. The broader program attracted more than 63,541 customer votes, three times last year's tally. That means the result was not just a feel-good local mention. It came from a national campaign in which customers actively chose to back their local produce retailers.

For the Sunshine Coast food economy, the win reinforces the region's wider argument that local food culture is built from growers, wholesalers, shop owners, hospitality operators and loyal customers, not only from destination restaurants and weekend festivals. Erbacher's sources fruit and vegetables through the Brisbane Markets and also uses trusted local growers and suppliers for produce such as strawberries, greens and eggs. That mix keeps the business connected to both regional supply chains and the local shopping habits that sustain it.

The challenge for long-running family businesses is staying recognisable without becoming stuck. Customers may say they do not want a shop to change, but costs, staffing, freight, retail competition and customer expectations keep changing around it. The Erbacher family appears to have found a practical balance: keep the service culture and community identity, while maintaining the quality and variety customers expect from a modern fresh-produce store.

That is why the award deserves attention beyond the food aisle. It shows how a founder-led local business can become part of the social fabric while still competing on price, produce and service. For shoppers, the national award may simply confirm what they already know. For other Sunshine Coast businesses, it is a reminder that loyalty is earned through repeated daily experiences, not advertising alone.