Geoff and Di_Old Mill General Store
In 2003 while Geoff and Di were travelling through the region in their caravan, Geoff spotted an old store front. He turned to Di and said: “I am going to buy that shop and open it”. And after years of hard work and perseverance they opened the Old Mill General Store in 2016. Their shop sells groceries such as bread and milk as well as takeaway food, coffee and woodfire pizzas.
In answer to one of my questions Geoff talks about an older couple he met who in their words had ‘escaped’ Victoria as soon as they could and were not going back: “So when you ask the question how we’ve been affected by COVID-19, anything that’s happened to us, pales into insignificance compared with how he described, in his despair, what is happening to people he knows in Victoria… That breaks my heart to see what has happened to these businesses, similar to ours in Melbourne, where we may have had all these issues that I have outlined, it doesn’t come any where near the pain and suffering and the mental angst and the anguish these people have to suffer in Melbourne… That has affected me probably more than anything … I think we have been blessed in many ways compared with what other people have experienced”.
Geoff said the hardest part was not knowing what was going to happen next as well as the doubts of what was reality and what was not.
Geoff and Di are not ones to advertise when they help another, believing that you do it quietly and without seeking praise for it however their business is more than a store it is also a place of employment within the community and a place that will help others during difficulties. In return Geoff stated that: “you go from having customers to having friends”. He feels a great deal of support from many in the community not only during Covid19 but always, and he stated that: “Everybody that comes in the door does something for this business”.
A big thank you to Geoff and Di for their time and for sharing their story.
Old Mill General Store, 1 Mill Street, Wallaville, QLD, 4671
Ph: (07) 4157 6483
oldmillstorewallaville@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/Old-Mill-store-Wallaville-127224424699624