Cornetts is a family business. We opened our first store in Chermside (north of Brisbane) in 1973, moved to Kippa Ring (Redcliffe) in 1976 and on to Bribie Island in 1978. We soon established ourselves as giving good value for money on quality product and in the early days served customers as far away as Ipswich.

Cornetts IGA at Bribie Island became the first scanning supermarket in Queensland in 1981. The store has been remodeled three times since the early days.

In 1995 a group of stores known as Denham's was purchased, giving us a total of eleven stores from Bribie Island through the coal belt of Central Queensland and as far west as Longreach store, where we are well recognized by the Government Healthy Food surveys for Quality, Range and Price.

In November 2001 we were able to acquire ex-Franklins stores at Deception Bay and Gympie then in July 2002 an ex-Bi-Lo store at Banksia Beach and with stores at Barcaldine and Gayndah have a total of sixteen stores
Early 2005 we were involved in increasing our number of stores to 25, through acquisition, joint ventures and consultancies covering the state from Toowoomba to Longreach in the west and Cooktown in the north.

Currently our store numbers stand at 40 which has enabled us to have bulk buying power, ‘own brand’ staples such as bread and milk and our own fresh produce distribution centre in the Brisbane Markets. We also work closely with Queensland abattoirs and have developed a quality control for beef second to none with tight control on lamb, pork and chicken supplies. Once again we pride ourselves on being very competitive in price and on a quality that allows us to offer - complete satisfaction or the item replaced and your money refunded 'guaranteed'.

Although Joan and I are still on the board of the company, our three children are actively involved: Graham is responsible for I.T., Debra in payroll and our youngest son Andrew, Stock Display Manager.

All our Store Managers with their teams are encouraged to participate within the community through IGA Community Chest and other local sponsorship and involvement.

Derek Cornett