Local focus central to Caleb’s vision for Wangaratta

Local businesses are the backbone of any regional city - without them, towns struggle to prosper, populations dwindle, and services suffer. Everyone has a role to play in supporting local business - to help guard the long-term prosperity of local employment, family livelihoods, and ongoing consumer choice in goods and services, found locally. The Wangaratta Chronicle aims to provide insight into our local businesses, with a focus on their operation, and why shopping locally should be at the front of every person's mind. There are many factors at play that challenge businesses of any size. People at the coalface can give insight to assist others in how these challenges are tackled and how operators can seek to overcome them. For North East Steel owner Caleb Readhead, the strength of his business and the future of Wangaratta are closely linked. Mr Readhead said the locally owned company, which has operated for seven years, relies heavily on local builders, farmers and other clients. Its work spans steel sales, fabrication, architectural housing projects, commercial and rural sheds, and drill-pipe maintenance, with operations across two branches and a fabrication workshop. The business employs about 15 people, and Mr Readhead believes that local employment creates a flow-on benefit throughout the community. Staff buy groceries, service their cars and pay rates in Wangaratta, while the company itself uses other local suppliers whenever possible. “When you shop with us, I’m the owner — the money is going back into this town,” he said. That local circulation of money is why Mr Readhead wants greater awareness of the difference between buying from a locally owned company and purchasing from a national chain or an out-of-town competitor. North East Steel faces growing price competition from larger centres, particularly Albury, but Mr Readhead said many local builders remained highly supportive. The company has navigated a difficult period since taking over during a COVID lockdown, when steel prices could jump by 20 per cent within a fortnight. Despite those pressures, Mr Readhead said the business had been fortunate to retain good staff and had recently purchased its Wangaratta premises. Plans are now taking shape for a large new shed at the rear of the site, potentially late next year. Mr Readhead is equally ambitious for Wangaratta. He wants the city to attract more investment, broaden its market and learn from regional centres such as Shepparton, which have expanded more rapidly over the past decade. In his view, growth depends on housing and infrastructure being delivered alongside new business opportunities. Employers need workers, he said, but workers also need somewhere to live. More broadly, Mr Readhead would like local businesses, residents and decision-makers to collaborate more deliberately. Growing Wangaratta, he said, “needs to happen”, but the effort should be formalised and focused on creating the conditions in which people want to invest. For Mr Readhead, the message is simple: backing local businesses helps those businesses employ local people, support other local operators, and reinvest in the city’s future.

Local focus central to Caleb’s vision for Wangaratta

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