Family bursts onto party scene with new store

A Sunshine Coast family has started a new balloon and party business in Golden Beach.

Bradley and Katrina Drinnan and their children Joseph, 10 and Ella, 15, have opened Pop Balloon Shop at Golden Beach.

A Sunshine Coast family has switched from selling flowers to balloons by setting up a new business in Golden Beach.

Pop Balloon Shop is just two weeks old but is already generating plenty of buzz.

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Owner Brad Drinnan said it was a big change for his family moving from a flower farm at Eudlo into a store front near the beach.

“We had a property … it was called Bright Petals and we had about 3000 gerbera plants under hot houses,” he said.

“That was our first step into small business and it was really fun and quite rewarding just unfortunately circumstances changed through the years.

“We had some problems with drought and also with land resumption from the government which forced us into looking for other ideas.”

Pop Balloon Shop has recently opened in Golden Beach.

Circumstances though have led Brad and his wife Katrina to expand on their online venture.

“We set up a couple of online stores and we did quite well with those and we still run those,” he said.

“This is an extension of that because we thought the local market was under serviced.

Brad, Katrina and their two children Ella, 15 and Joseph, 10 are working among the balloons in their colourful store.

“It’s been phenomenal really, all we’ve done is some basic advertising and there’s been a lot of positive feedback and quite a few people just walking into our door,” Mr Drinnan said.

“We’re still putting signage out at the moment as well. “

Pop Balloon Shop is run by locals Katrina and Bradley Drinnan.

Mr Drinnan said while it was daunting to open a store front during the pandemic, he was very optimistic about the future.

“I think we’re quite resilient as Queenslanders and we’ve come out of it pretty well and we’re not really scared to have a go,” he said.

“You can look at it and sit there and sweat about it but if you don’t have a go you’ll never know.

“I just think you’ve got to be positive about it and do your best to get out there.”

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