Gympie Toyworld re-opening on August 1

GYMPIE Christmas and birthday present institution, Toyworld, is on the come-back trail.

Picture: Craig Warhurst

GYMPIE Christmas and birthday present institution, Toyworld, is on the come-back trail.

Former owners Roger and Lorraine Broadley are back and preparing for an official re-opening on August 1 of what is now once again their business.

And they hope more people will join them in backing lower Mary St, which they describe as "the best business location in town," floods or no floods.

"Lower Mary St is flood-prone, but it's a prime shopping precinct most of the time," Roger said.

"It's time," he said, "to put a stop to Gympie's victim mentality.

"A lot of places would envy us for having Mary St.

"The leopard trees make a wonderful ambiance, but serial whingers, all they can do is complain about the seed pods dropping."

"Mary St has had a bad time lately," Lorraine said.

"But we've seen it go through other bad times , but other places don't have this picturesque winding street.

"It looks a bit sad now, but when it had a buzz, tourists would remark on its atmosphere. We're hoping to be part of a return of retail life.

"And the emphasis is on local support for local businesses.

"Money spent in the big chain stores goes out of town.

"We use a local cabinet maker, a local lawyer, local transport operators.

"Money spent in locally owned stores gets spent here and keeps on going round."

And local shops are enjoyably unpredictable.

"You can go to a shopping centre in Darwin and it's the same as one in Canberra."