Gum Tree Pies: Popular pie shop opens in Wodonga
By popular demand, a regional Victorian pie shop is opening a brand new store on the border. Find out the location and when they plan to open.
Albury Wodonga
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If the drive to Yackandandah was the only thing stopping you from becoming a regular at Gum Tree Pies, rejoice as owners Melinda and Sebastian Nedziak have announced the opening of a store right here in Wodonga.
The couple will open their fourth and final store at Junction Place, near Miss Amelie, next month.
“It’s always been our plan to stay in the smaller tourists towns, the places that didn’t have much available and we had a point of difference,” Ms Nedziak said.
“When the borders closed and people weren’t able to come out to Yackandandah people reached out to us and said how much they missed our pies.
“We realised how much the border was part of our customer base.
“We thought we’ll do a small takeaway outlet where people can grab our pies when they don’t have time to get out to Yackandandah.”
Gum Tree Pies first opened in Yackandandah in 2016, and has rapidly grown a huge fanbase ever since.
A second Gum Tree Pies store was opened in Bright in 2017 and then a third store was opened in Beechworth in December last year.
Ms Nedziak said they knew opening a new store during the pandemic was unusual, but they had the demand and the capacity to make more of their delicious products.
“We didn’t take it lightly, that’s why we just wanted to do a little takeaway outlet, but we wanted to provide that for Albury-Wodonga,” she said.
“When we first bought our Yackandandah store, we had a number in mind for how many pies we could produce.
“We knew we could offer our staff more work by opening the extra outlet, we felt this is one way to look after our pie makers.
“Everything is made by hand, and these guys and girls are the ones who make it handmade so we want to provide them with more security and more work.
“We’ll be producing to our maximum capacity so I think this will definitely be our last store.”
Originally making their pies to sell at regional markets, Ms Nedziak said she never imagined they would grow to be this popular.
“So many people rave about them and you take it for granted that everybody loves a pie,” she said.
“It’s nice to put a gourmet spin on an Aussie classic.
“We’re blown away by how much people love them, and we really appreciate it too.”
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