Ideas for mural a team effort

One of Kaiwaka’s iconic stores has recently been brightened up and beautified with an eye-catching mural characterising the east Kaipara town.

Jaques Four Square new owners Ant and Jess Pedersen recently commissioned local artist Joseph Paikea Jr. to decorate the shop’s concrete water tank located in the parking lot, turning the ‘big blank space’ into a symbolic work of art.

“We saw an opportunity to do something different, so we tossed around a few ideas and came up with a Four Square mural,” Ant says. “The idea was to tie in the things that makes this place special. We feel it’s a very cool representation of the area.”

Deciding what exactly should go in the mural was a team effort between the 16 Jaques Four Square staff members, Paikea and the Pedersens, with the local knowledge of the area proving invaluable in depicting their hometown.

“The staff and Joseph have all lived here longer than we have and they had some really good ideas,” Jess says. “The customers and people in the community have really loved it, they say it’s a true reflection of Kaiwaka.”

Along with Kaipara District Council who will be establishing a footpath surrounding the shop carpark, the couple have also cleared bush which has ‘increased the interaction between the store and the outer world’.

“We were quite hidden by the bushes and we’ve had a lot of comments from customers about how much easier and safer it is to exit from the car park onto Gibbons and Kaiwaka-Mangawhai Roads,” says Ant. “The EV charging station is also clearer for users who say they often couldn’t access the system easily due to the overgrown bushes. It’s really opened us up and increased our connection to the rest of the town.”

The patches of dirt will not be bare for long as the couple plan on continuing the bark and grass gardens they have already established around the store front.

Newcomers to the north, Jess a registered nurse, says the area ‘is amazing’.

“Such a cool part of the country and the community have been so welcoming and genuinely kind.”

The couple and their two children moved to Kaiwaka from Tauranga last year and took over the ownership of Jaques on December 1. They previously had moved to the east coast town from Hamilton, after being offered the opportunity to build a store in a new suburb of Tauranga.

“We were quite intrigued with the Four Square journey so we thought we’d give it a crack and stayed for three and a half years, was good fun,” Ant, a chartered accountant says. “Then Jaques presented itself and we thought we’d have a go. We’re loving it so far.”

The mural symbolising their new home also gives a respectful nod to the Jaques family who established the store in 1924, and although Foodstuffs will officially rename the shop ‘Kaiwaka Four Square’, the Pedersens say the store ‘is what it is’ because of the Jaques family history.

‘We’ve only been here five minutes and we’re here because of them, so we want to honour that,” Ant says. “It will always be known as Jaques Four Square and we’re totally cool with that.”