Brooms Head General Store owners Nathan Brown and Ros Brown ready to open

It’s been more work than they could’ve imagined, but they’ve let the community be part of the redevelopment. See the journey the Brooms Head General Store has taken to reopen after almost two years.

Nathan Brown says the attention his general store is gaining from passers-by is more suited to a new tourist attraction as they duck their heads to catch a glimpse through the front glass.

“There’s not a person who doesn’t come past and take a peek in,” he said.

“They’re very keen to see it open.”

Mr Brown and his wife Ros have taken over the Brooms Head General Store and after months of painstaking work to get the shop in shape, they are just about ready to open.

“We’re really hoping to open the end of this week,” Ms Brown said.

The Brown’s bought the shop, which had been closed for more than a year, at auction in April. 

They have been busy since then getting ready to launch.

“The amount of work that has been required is just unbelievable,” Ms Brown said.

“I did walk in at the start and thought how are we going to do this? I guess we just made a start and kept going.”

The entire shop has been stripped back, with the only two original items the bottle shop coolroom and the fridges at the rear.

Even the floor required 70 hours of grinding to reveal their new “patchwork” pattern.

Brooms Head General Store owners Nathan and Ros Brown are almost ready to open. Picture: Adam Hourigan

There has been no shortage of helpers from the community, with many keen to help get the store open again.

“We had people come and help paint and remove the furniture from the units out the back,” Ms Brown said.

“And our concreters who live down the road donated their labour for free, so keen were they to see it open as well.”

The couple said the store had really started to come together in the past fortnight.

“When the shelving arrived, we sat down and assembled it all … and then six pallets of stock arrived, and when it’s all up with the counters and everything you looks and think yeah, it’s starting to look like a shop,” Ms Brown said.

The shop will offer a basic cafe and hot and cold food as well as groceries, camping and fishing gear and a bottle shop.

“We had one of the guys from next door come in and have a look around and he said he hadn’t seen that much grocery on the shelf in 20 years,” Ms Brown said.

“The support has been great, and with people asking us how it’s all going we’ve been able to show people through Instagram exactly how much work was going on.”

Brooms Head General Store owners Nathan and Ros Brown are almost ready to open. Picture: Adam Hourigan

The Browns will keep expanding on their efforts once the store is open with plans including replacement of the old fuelling area with a deck for the cafe.

Ms Brown said the only people more keen than the local community to see it open were she and her husband.

“I’m looking forward to having fun,” Ms Brown said.

“And also for us to do something together.”

“We’ve worked, and even lived apart for a fair while, and it’d be nice for us to do something together … and use both our skill sets together.”