The Amaroo Store was named the winner of the Moree Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Essential Business Appreciation Award for May.

Owner and manager Matt Ryan said they were thrilled to win and are grateful for the support they've received since opening at the start of this year.

"Having only been open for a few months, the support we have received has been amazing and very much appreciated," he said.

"We don't have the advantage of passing traffic and impulse buying; we rely on a majority of our customers shopping with us because they know they can get what they need and not have to go all the way over town for one or two items."

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Margaret Dennis nominated the Amaroo Store for the May award, saying "they offer friendly service and amazing, great takeaway food and groceries line".

Mr Ryan thanked Margaret for the nomination.

"Both her and Ted have supported us since day one," he said.

"People like the both of them are the reason we feel we have done the right thing reopening the store.

"We are very fortunate to have such amazing people shopping here and making our days worthwhile.

"We enjoy the mixture of personalities and backgrounds of all out customers. Where we are situated, we have all types of people coming here and we want everyone to feel welcome and know they will be walking into a happy and friendly environment. We are here to serve our customers and we want them to walk away with the best possible experience every time."

Mr Ryan thanked everyone who voted for the store in the monthly award.

"To everyone who voted for our store, thank you very much for your vote, your support and your continued patronage of our shop," he said.

"It's nice to know that we are heading in the right direction and that people support what we are doing."

The support has been particularly welcome given the challenges of the past few months, with stock issues and the unavailability of certain products as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's hard enough being an independent store - the bigger stores control the market so naturally they come first and so they should; they are important and needed in towns like ours. We are lucky to have both Coles and Woolworths, " Mr Ryan said.

"What I mean is when there is a shortage of something, it goes to them before us, so therefore our customers who don't have available transport or a way of getting over town, they are the ones missing out.

"We also want to make people aware that the reason we put up barriers and signage is to protect them and to make sure we are offering a clean and safe environment for them. We try and carry a wide range of products and listen to people's needs. We had to grow our range a lot quicker than we anticipated, we were going to just poke along and over time see what was needed, but instead of putting a toe in the water we had to jump in.

"We wanted to make sure we had available what our customers needed and give them the peace of mind that they could come here and get what they needed and not have to be exposed to large groups of people over town."

Mr Ryan congratulated all the other businesses who were nominated, as well as all those who have continued to operate "under these trying times".

"It's a credit to all of you," he said.

"To all the businesses who have had to close, we hope to see all of you back and trading soon and hopefully everyone throws their support behind you when you reopen."