Michelle said they were ready to renew the lease on their successful homewares shop in Quondola St, Pambula which had been their home for six years, when their landlord said he wouldn't be renewing.

"We spent 24 hours crying about it. We'd built up such a great business and felt that we'd had the rug pulled from underneath us," Michelle said.

But what it did was force the business women to assess what they really wanted from the business and motivated them into action.

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In deciding what to do about the situation they came to the conclusion it would be far better to own their commercial property so that the same thing couldn't happen again.

"We decided to put our money where our mouth is and purchased what had been the Hospitality Shop on Bullara St, Pambula."

But it wasn't an easy process; they looked at 17 different properties and even approached people where the premises were not up for sale.

On June 30, after helping to find storage for some of the hospitality supplies in the shop, the two Michelles and their "silent partners" took over.

"It's an ugly duckling but it's a big space, it has parking right outside the front door and is in a great place," Michelle said.

"We've had very positive feedback about staying in Pambula and we did want to stay there. We're gently stretching the footprint of Pambula," Michelle said.

The current lease finishes at the end of September and so there is a lot of work to do in the next two and a half months but they have been lucky enough to secure the building professionals they need to help them get the space ready.

"It's double the space we have at the moment; we represent 50 local artists and will be able to commit more space to them plus a broader range of homewares, almost all of them are Australian and eco friendly.

"We are going to have locally-made furniture which is custom-designed and made from sustainable Australian hardwood," Michelle said.

And the space will be big enough to include a cafe in the footprint.

"We're on the lookout for someone keen to run a cafe, someone keen and creative and with energy to start up. We will fit out the space and will be leasing it out and we're hoping the two businesses will be sympathic to each other.

We love what we do and want to keep having fun. It was heartbreaking to lose the current shop but it motivated us into action; it forced us to assess what we really wanted and so it will be bigger and better," Michelle said.

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