As they retire, the owners of Merimbula's only toy store are encouraging the community to continue to support small business.
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Terry and Coral Hutchinson have run Merimbula’s only toy shop, Toyriffic Toys, for the past 17 months after having run Toyworld Merimbula for close to 10 years.
They have not taken a single holiday and Mr Hutchinson has worked seven days a week, every week.
“It’s hard for small businesses in Merimbula,” Ms Hutchinson said. “We haven’t always had the ability to hire extra staff so it falls on us to work every day. This isn’t uncommon though, we are nothing special, there are plenty of other small business owners in Merimbula doing the same thing.”
Ms Hutchinson said once they downsized from Toyworld they found it hard to compete with the large corporations.
“Again this isn’t something that is unique to Toyriffic, a lot of businesses in Merimbula are struggling for many different reasons.”
Ms Hutchinson listed the new Bega shopping mall, the rise of internet shopping and the high cost of rent as some of the things putting pressure on local small businesses.
Increased internet usage, downloading and DVD vending machines have also had a huge effect on the video store industry with stores closing across the country.
The new owners of Network Video Pambula, Tracey and Kevin Scerri, said they would like to thank the ongoing support of the regular customers and the tourists each year which keeps their little business going.
Ms Hutchinson and Ms Scerri both agree that the current push back from the community to encourage people to shop local will have a positive effect.
“We know it’s more convenient to go to these big stores where you can get everything you need at once, but it is wonderful to see people making a conscious effort to shop local,” she said.
Ms Hutchinson praised the efforts of the local Cash Mob for its support of local businesses.
“That’s the beauty of smaller towns and small businesses, if the town supports the business then the business goes on to support the town.”
During their time running businesses in Merimbula, the Hutchinsons have donated more than $60,000 to local charities and not for profit groups. But now they are looking forward to a holiday and then slowing down a bit in their retirement.