The Woodyard 4 SALE

We think our parents would be happy with us sharing this story, even though we were strongly encouraged as children to never talk about our parents political beliefs or finances.

In 1962, the landlord of our fruit shop did something sneaky. He noticed that mum & dad had grown their business a lot in just 3 years. He was envious because he had sold them the business previously.

Our parents, being only 28 & 29 years old & new Australians, didn’t know they had to exercise an option to remain in the fruit shop after their initial first term. The landlord waited for the day after the time period to exercise the option, and came to them to say that he wouldn’t renew, and that he wanted to take the business back.

Sitting on a bench in the shop crying, my father noticed through the window a familiar real estate agent walking toward the wood yard opposite, with a hammer and sign in his hand. The agent put up a “ FOR SALE “ sign which immediately drew dad’s attention! Dad knew the agent and went to his house, asked him the price, and gave him the ten percent deposit out of his own pocket.

Dad came back home and replaced the sign at the wood yard with another sign saying “ FRUIT MARKET COMING SOON”. It was a double block, large enough for a fruit market, not just a fruit shop.

The next time the landlord came to collect the rent he noticed the fruit market sign. He asked Dad what he knew about it, and dad replied “ THAT’S ME ” 💁🏽‍♂️ The landlord quickly reconsidered his plan to reclaim the business and told dad that they could stay. He knew mum and dad were great operators and he wouldn’t be able to compete once they were established. They already had loyal customers, who in fact still shop with us now.

The fruit market never got built, but they built a fish shop and milk bar on the wood yard. As they say, the rest is history.

Thankfully this investment funded his old age requirements in aged care.