The family business will continue its existing shop front in the Norfolk Plaza complex on Raglan Parade and will open another store in the Northpoint shopping centre in the coming weeks.

Owner Bill Gee and manager Rick Hahn are excited for the expansion.

"It was the right time to expand the business," Mr Hahn said.

"The new store will hopefully give us new customers. North Warrnambool is growing with new houses and families arriving. At the moment there's no real outlet for them except for (Coles). We're looking forward to opening and the challenges ahead too."

The Gee family opened Norfolk Butchers 14 years ago and has been heavily involved since.

Five years ago, Mr Gee lost his daughter and just over a year ago his son Adam lost his battle to brain cancer.

Mr Hahn is teaching Mr Gee's daughter Rhiarna the tricks of the butchery trade and the 22-year-old hopes to one day take on her family's business.

"It's really big for me to be a part of this. I remember when I was 10 and my brother put so much work in, doing ridiculous hours every day because he cared so much.

"Our whole family has been through here so I'm really happy to be on-board."

The new store at Northpoint will have more space for the butchers to manage its wholesale business.

Norfolk Butchers wholesales from Apollo Bay to Hamilton including the Grampians, Ararat and Portland.

However during the coronavirus pandemic wholesale has completely stalled to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars as restaurants and cafes have closed.The business has been innovative in keeping its customers engaged.

"The wholesale side of our work has drastically changed," Mr Hahn said.

"Cafes and restaurant have closed so that business has stopped but more people are coming into the shop and purchasing their meat. The moment cafes and restaurants shut, we started doing home deliveries.

"One of the butcher's girlfriend is a chef and she's been helping us with the recipes on Facebook. The new store has a great area out the back for our wholesale work when it begins again."

Mr Hahn has recently returned to the south-west to help build the business.

"I was Bill's apprentice and then I moved into wholesale work," Mr Hahn said.

"I lived in Melbourne for nine years, then in Sydney for another nine and I moved back to Warrnambool five weeks ago."

Norfolk Butchers is hoping to open its Northpoint store in the coming weeks once renovations are finished.

"We've had to do a lot of work to the store," Mr Hahn said.

"We've rebuilt the floors, brought in new equipment and added in safety and cleanliness procedures. The store will have a city look with a country atmosphere but still offer the same products and services as the existing store.

"I think we're about three weeks away from opening. We have new staff ready to go and depending on how it goes we could hire up to seven new staff."

Warrnambool Country Meats was the previous tenant in the Northpoint shop but ceased trading in February after going into liquidation.

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