Peter Patrick closes Patrick’s Casket and Newsagency after 54 years

The shopping heart of Gympie won’t be the same, after one of its oldest businesses closed its doors forever recently. Find out why and what the plans are for the building that has housed it since 1967:

An iconic Mary St newsagency that has service customers for more than half a century has closed its doors and is preparing to hit the market.

Patrick’s Casket and Newsagency owner Peter Patrick, 87, said he was getting too old to run the business, which has operated from its well known location in Mary Street for the past 54 years.

Long-time Gympie businessman Peter Patrick has closed his newsagency doors after more than half a century. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

Patrick’s Casket and Newsagency closed about three weeks ago. Mr Patrick described it as the “end of an era”.

The newsagency opened in 1967, when Mr Patrick bought the building at 69 Mary Street.

Before that, it was a bookshop owned by the Lyons sisters.

Mr Patrick said he had seen some “incredible” changes in Mary St and the Gympie region over the decades.

“I lived in Mary St for a long time, and over the years the whole street changed,” he said.

He reminisced on how shop owners would celebrate Christmas in Mary Street their own way, by hanging gumnuts on the posts connected to shop awnings.

LOVED EVERY MINUTE: Peter Patrick said he had enjoyed the 54 years working at his Mary Street newsagency. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

While there had been a variety of lovely customers over the years, Mr Patrick particularly remembered former Wide Bay MP Clarrie Millar and his daughter, ABC journalist and former Gympie Times journalis, Lisa Millar, both originally from Kilkivan.

Ms Millar was a former student of Gympie High and began her journalist career as a cadet at The Gympie Times.

“(Clarrie) used to shop with me and buy cards and things; he’s a lovely man,” Mr Patrick said.

“(Lisa) used to come when she was going to school, she’d come in here and buy a few things.”

But when The Gympie Times stopped its printed product in mid-2020, he said the business took a hit and the number of customers coming into the shop dropped.

The Newspaper stands inside Peter Patrick’s newsagency where he used to sell papers including the Gympie Times before they stopped printing in mid-2020. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

However, this did not play a role in Mr Patrick closing the business for good.

Despite the shop closing its doors, he said he was not going into retirement but rather “taking a break”.

“I’ve loved being in Mary St … it was just a pleasure to be there,” he said.

The shop is in the process of being put on the market.