EDITOR’S LETTER

I ALWAYS ADMIRE people who start small retail businesses. First of all they need to be many things: an accountant, a sales person, a marketing expert — and that’s just off the top of my head. I’ve discovered over the years that many of them also quickly become a supportive friend to their regular customers and an essential part of a small town community. I know a quick call to one of these wonderful people is always a good way of finding out something like the best place to stay in town. They are the people who always just know exactly what you need.

In this special guide, we spoke to a few of these special people and asked them about how they started out. Margot Shannon, who opened her homewares shop Merchant Campbell in 2017, had this advice. “Believe in yourself. Don’t question your ability to do this. Stop being ageist about yourself. Don’t think that just because you’re over 50 you can’t reinvent yourself and find a job that can fulfil your needs, employ you and other staff, and be successful,” she says. “Just pull up those big girl pants and walk into it. I can say to myself now, ‘Look! You did it!’ and that’s fantastic.”

Take a look at the beautiful things Margot has in her store and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Turn the page and you will see West Australian artist Lori Pensini’s painting ‘Lambing’. It is one of the works in Art Station, our first exhibition held with Michael Reid at his Murrurundi art gallery in the NSW Upper Hunter. “It’s a memoir of my early station life as a jillaroo, mustering scrub cattle on our family’s station, Wyloo, in the Pilbara. We had to keep our wits about us, it was rough, dangerous country with cattle to match,” Lori says. I think Lori is definitely an artist to watch and I can’t wait to see what she does next. Turn to page 22 for details on the exhibition — we would love to see you there or if you can’t make it, please email James at the gallery for the catalogue.

We hope you enjoy this shopping guide as much as we enjoyed researching it!

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