By Dominique Tassell
In what is the end of an era, the man behind Percy’s Fruit Shop has decided to retire from his country fruit runs.
After almost 30 years of service, Percy Pugliese has sold off the country runs to locals Peter and Cassie Cary.
With 12 years of experience under his belt, Peter is more than prepared for the challenge of taking on such a big legacy.
He got his first job with Percy in fruit, and has experience managing fruit shops.
His experience includes working at Toowoomba and Rose City Fruits.
“I’ve always given Percy a hand on and off when he’s needed one,” he says.
The Carys are committed to delivering the same high level of produce and customer service that locals are used to, stating they get produce locally where they can and have a good network of local farmers.
“Our main priority is looking after customers,” Peter says. “We want them to enjoy what they bought, and I’ll look after the price and their wallet where I can.”
Peter says they always go for quality and taste above all else.
Residents of the region can feel safe knowing the runs are still in local hands, with Peter and Cassie currently living in Warwick and having lived in Allora and Killarney previously.
The Carys and Percy himself know how loyal locals are, and Percy says he wouldn’t have sold off the country runs unless he found the right person to take over.
“I couldn’t have picked a better person to do the runs,” he says. “It had to be someone pretty special to take over.”
The country runs were never officially for sale, but after hitting retirement age Percy knew he wanted to slow down a bit.
He says he didn’t want to give the runs away to just anybody, and he knew Peter had the experience and the personality to take on the job.
“I knew he’d be good with customers and carry on the good service.
“I had no hesitation in letting him take over.”
When asked about the outpouring of support and gratitude received on his post on Facebook announcing the change, Percy says saying farewell was incredibly sad.
He says he’ll still be in the area, and now that he has more free time he’ll be able to duck out and spend some time on the runs with Peter.
“Basically just to say hello to some of the customers,” he says.
“Over the years they’ve become good friends.
“You don’t see somebody for 30 years every week and not build up a rapport.”
He said he wanted to thank “all those beautiful people and loyal customers” who have been so supportive.
“It was a real privilege to be able to serve them for all that time,” he says. “They supported me and I supported them.”
“I’m sure they’ll support Peter too.”
The country fruit run is in Killarney on Tuesday, Allora on Wednesday, Clifton on Thursday, and Pittsworth on Friday.
