Business celebrates 40 years on King St, Newtown
A local business celebrates 40 years on King St in Newtown, surviving multiple armed hold-ups, countless shoplifters, online shopping and the constant opening and closing of nearby shops.
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In four decades, a business on Newtown’s King St has endured armed hold ups with knives and syringes, instore floods, shoplifter chases, and an ever-changing inner city suburb.
Family-run Modern Times Bookshop and Art On King celebrate their 40th birthday in store this weekend.
For the past 15 years, brother-sister duo Martin Butler and Joni Stephen have run the store opened by their father in 1979.
Opened as a second-hand bookstore, the shop is now split right down the middle, with art on one side and books on the other.
They share a front counter, though they have two shopfronts and two phone numbers.
Martin described the changes on King St — from tumbleweeds and blue collar workers in the 70s and 80s, to witch covens, underground culture and a strong LGBTQI presence in the late 90s and early 2000s, to young professionals and Asian university students today.
The 40-year-old business is by the book, literally.
They do not scan any items in and they do not have an online inventory.
Joni, who runs Art On King, learnt to look after the store from her father.
“My dad was always a very brazen protector of his store and his belongings. He was always running after the shoplifters,” she said.
“My brother and I are very forthright, chasing shopliftering down the street as well.”
“I chased this one six foot tall guy 1km up the road in a dress and Birkenstocks. He wouldn’t stop, he was jumping fences and running across rooftops,” she said.
“Often as I’m running I’m thinking, what am I going to do when I catch them.”
They chronicle all their retail adventures in a book they keep under the counter titled ‘Goats and other stories’ — jotting down the odd occurrence and pinning keepsakes to the pages.
Joni said she used to pride herself on knowing every shop on King St and directing customers on where to go.
“Shops are changing hands every six months. I have no idea what shops are opening anymore or what they sell.”
“(Newtown has) lost that small town feel,” she said.
Some of the reasons Joni gave for their longevity was that people “love the energy” of the shop and that the community are very supportive of small business.
Bookstore-owner Martin believes quirkiness and knowing your customer base is the key to staying open.
“You need to look at what people like in the area and put in things you really like as well. Things that are quirky and different. Those kind of things keep people coming back,” he said.
“Lonely Planet do a guidebook to Antarctica and people (in Newtown) buy it. Our sales rep told us, ‘You’re one of the few shops that sell it’. Alaska, Nicaragua. People will buy it.”
“Pick up on that and don’t disappoint them,” he said.
But Martin is nostalgic for the counterculture Newtown.
“It’s lost a bit of its identity. We can still get it back,” he said.
“The bohemian element has decreased over the past ten years.”
He noted the three chicken shops that consecutively opened and closed across the road, and the O’Galo that sits next door.
“Not as many people are taking chances (in business). Twenty years ago there were weird quirky stores. People would take a chance to sell things they were passionate about. Now you can’t afford to take the risk,” he said.
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