Securing an Essential Service for Ravensthorpe

When Ravensthorpe’s supermarket closed, the loss went well beyond an empty building.

For local residents, businesses and visitors, it meant losing access to an essential service at the heart of the town. It also created uncertainty about when, and under what conditions, a supermarket might return.

The Ravensthorpe Hopetoun Future Fund stepped in.

In November 2025, the Future Fund purchased the former FoodWorks supermarket building at 76 Morgans Street, making its first major investment under a new policy allowing it to support “for purpose” projects that deliver long-term social and economic value.

The purchase gives the community-focused fund direct influence over the future of the site. Rather than waiting for an external property owner or operator to determine what happened next, the Future Fund can oversee improvements to the building, identify a suitable supermarket operator and establish lease conditions that support quality, reliability and long-term community benefit.

The Shire of Ravensthorpe is working alongside the Future Fund to help address the building’s structural and compliance requirements and prepare it for a new operator.

For Ravensthorpe Hopetoun Future Fund Chair Caroline Robinson, the acquisition represents more than a property transaction.

It is an investment in the liveability, resilience and economic strength of the wider region - protecting an essential service while creating the conditions for it to operate sustainably into the future.

The project also demonstrates the broader role that community foundations and future funds can play.

By building and carefully investing community capital, they can do more than distribute grants. They can acquire important assets, respond to market gaps and ensure that critical local services remain connected to community priorities.

For Ravensthorpe, the supermarket purchase is a practical example of a community fund using its resources not just to support individual projects, but to help safeguard the long-term future of the town.

Photo courtesy of the Shire of Ravensthorpe