It is a sad time for the local business community as Mount Gambier second-hand store Goods & Chattels is closing this month after operating for more than 35 years.
To mark the occasion, there has been an ongoing 50% off clearance sale since the start of January.
Goods & Chattels has been advertised for sale since June 2021 because current owner Greg Appleyard and his wife Glenda are “wanting to retire and take life a bit easier”.
Mr Appleyard said the couuple decided if the business had not sold by Christmas they would be shutting it down in the new year after his 18-year run.
“It’s just sad that it’s going to be gone because all those years you have been going through that same door,” he said.
“I bought it in March 2005, so we have bought and sold a lot of stuff during that time.
“Unfortunately, the town’s going to lose something that’s been here a long time.
“There’s no second-hand furniture shops as such left.”
Mr Appleyard said despite the changes in the business community they were still selling a fair bit of stuff.
“In the last six months we’re probably back to what we were before the start of COVID,” he said.
“We got close to closing it down in 2009 because nobody was spending any money because nobody had any, it was a bit of a tight time in society then.
“It’s just unfortunate because so many people sell us their surplus stuff and now they will have to move it on some other way.
“We have been fairly passionate about re-using, re-purposing furniture and generally recycling as much stuff as we can such as household batteries, mobile phones, coffee pods (and other items) rather than it all go into land fill, which we will continue to do from Cartridge World next door.
“There comes a time. “We just want to do a bit of travelling and some other things.
“It’ll be a bit of a void in our lives.”
Mr Appleyard said the business was registered in 1986 under owners Crystal and Peter Geordi.
“A few years later Mr Geordi sold the business to another couple who had it for a while and then he bought it back and ran it for a few more years before selling it to Anne and Tony Irvine in 1998,” he said.
Mr Appleyard bought Goods & Chattels in March 2005 from the Irvines and has had it since.
Like any business it was not without challenges as 2016 brought with it a fire that ravaged the back of the building, the storage shed and the workshop.
Mr Appleyard said it took 18 months to get everything repaired and properly functional again after the fire.
“However it gave us the opportunity to redo the driveway and the unloading bay meaning we could load and unload under cover, a luxury we had not had before,” he said.
“Over the years we have tidied up the shop, carpeted the building and painted.”
Mr Appleyard is also selling Cartridge World next door, for more information contact Ingo Schroeder on 0417 854 964.
