Waikato Family, Dean & Alana McCarthny Realise their dream of becoming part of the Waipū community

Waikato Family, Dean & Alana McCarthny Realise their dream of becoming par t of the Waipū community

It has been a long time coming. Sixteen years of talking, dreaming and making plans for a business up north on the east coast, where we could all work together as a family.

With Dean working offshore and Alana at home with the kids whilst working as an A&E nurse, our lives were so full up and busy that the reality seemed far beyond the realms of possibility that it felt like a safe topic to talk about.

One day while on holiday, our favourite conversation came again, this time with someone new, who asked what seems now like the most obvious question which finally put the round peg in the round hole; "What about a Hammer Hardware?"

And so began our relentless two-year journey, exploring all kinds of avenues before the magic opportunity to come to Waipū turned up.

One afternoon, Alana was awoken from a night shift haze to a life-changing phone call from the Hammer Hardware head office - we had a store of our own!

Suddenly wide awake, Alana called Dean immediately and told him they were packing their bags!

Heading north for that initial meeting involved a crazy feeling that the reality of the dream was finally on our doorstep.

From that point, a head-spinning few months ensued as we made it through the maze of logistics, moving, selling, buying, then finally taking over the business. We haven't looked back. The adventure was on and we loved it!

Taking on the store has been a steep learning curve but, with the help from the local community, has made the transition much easier, along with the support and expert knowledge of the staff who thankfully stayed on and who we are learning from every day. We couldn't have done it without them.

One day a customer came in looking for an alligator clip... Alana literally froze on the spot as a million and one images went through her head as she thought about what that could actually be.

It is as it turns out, it was a giant clip with jagged teeth, rather like an alligator!

Another time, someone rang up asking if we had a grease gun. We thought that sounded like a lot of fun, like paint ball maybe? But with grease? Turns out, we were a long way off the mark!

Sometimes the botanical names of the plants sound more like diseases on a petri dish. A customer thought it was hilarious one day as we confused streptococcus (bacteria in a throat infection) with streptocarpus (a beautiful plant!)

Waipu Hammer Hardware, The BIG little Hardware Store, right in the centre of Waipu!

Open 7 days for all your general hardware and gardening requirements