DALIP Chawla is preparing to farewell Boort after 12 years running the town’s IGA supermarket.
The final day before handing over to new owners will be early next month and Dalip said he would look back on more than a decade in Boort with fondness.
“When we bought the supermarket, the plan was to stay here for six years. We’ve doubled that but now it is time say goodbye. We had looked around Victoria for a business and decided this was the place for us.
“I’ve loved dealing with customers, the close community where we know everyone, something that is missing in metropolitan areas.”
Dalip said COVID had seen the business grow when people could not travel as far
“People loved the service here and they have stayed as customers,” he said.
Dalip arrived in Australia from India in 1990 where he was a qualified engineer. He returned to universitystudy and became a building surveyor before looking to move into business. 
Son Ravi has followed in his father’s footsteps as an engineer while daughter Mansi had been by her father’s side in growing the Boort business.