The East Coast Village Providore is expected to be opened for business early next month and owners Gary and Kate Pannan are hopeful the business will help boost local tourism numbers.

``We've only got two IGAs in St Helens, so this was done as a bit of a tourism venture I suppose,'' Mr Pannan said.

``The ethos of the store will be about serving the best local produce.''

Mr Pannan said the idea came about after the couple sold their caravan park.

``This has been in the works for about six months.

``When we sold the caravan park we decided this was what we wanted to do.

``We will have a lot of local meats and cheeses - we're really pushing the local angle.''