Diggers Rest post office owner calls time

Diggers Rest post office owner Barry Richards is looking forward to a sleep in. For the past 27 years, he has operated a newsagency and post office at the heart of the growing town.

Barry Richards outside the Diggers Rest Post office.Picture:Rob Leeson.

Diggers Rest post office owner Barry Richards is looking forward to a sleep in.

For the past 27 years, Mr Richards has operated a newsagency and post office at the heart of the growing town.

Now he says it’s time to move on, although he’ll miss the familiar faces. “I’d just like to thank everyone for their support over quite a few years,” he said.

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“You have a lot of contact with the locals and some of the people I’ve known for a long time.

“You form those friendly relationships.”

Mr Richards bought the post office more than two decades ago because he wanted a career change.

“I worked for the National bank for 20 years and decided I didn’t want to be a banker any more,” he said.

“I was living in Sunbury at the time and wanted to buy a business.”

The post office has been a family affair, with his son and daughters often joining him.

Barry Richards is retiring after 27 years of owning Diggers Rest Post office. Picture: Rob Leeson.

“My youngest daughter wasn’t born when I came here, she’s 27 now,” Mr Richards said.

He said the property was on the market for about 12 months before the right offer came up.

While Mr Richards isn’t sure of his next move, he plans on sleeping in.

“We’re also a newsagent and we do home delivery, so I won’t miss rising early,” he said.

“Being in business has its stresses.

“I figured I wasn’t getting any younger and it was time to go and do something different.”

Mr Richards said he’d seen a lot of change in Diggers Rest during the past decade.

“What the town needs right now is a commercial centre development,” he said.

“There are a lot of people living here and not as many facilities. I hope something like that happens in the next two to three years.”