A historic store dating back to 1886 has been listed for sale in Gundaroo, NSW.
The Gunadaroo Store, built in 1893, and an attached cottage named Sally Paskin’s Store, built in 1886, have been listed for sale and come with a potter’s shed, a picnic garden and water features.
Gundaroo is just north of the ACT border, 30 kilometres north of Canberra.
The store currently operates as a boutique gift store and has been recently renovated and has high ceilings, kauri floors and expansive interiors.
“The Gundaroo Store and the Caladonia Store next to it were like Myers and Bunnings and Woolworths all rolled into one. It provided a wide range of goods for people to buy,” says vendor Peter Thorne.
“It had everything from haberdashery, hardware items even explosives for miners because gold was found in the region. It basically provided everything you could possibly want.”
The building is mostly constructed of wood from various parts of the world.
“It’s a lovely old building, particularly interesting because the floors are New Zealand kauri and they’re all original and the ceilings are baltic pine, from the other side of the world. Packing cases were pulled apart and used to construct buildings. If you look across the front there’s a section made of packing case timber,” Thorne says.
“Moving from Sydney has been the best thing we ever did for a whole range of reasons, but the community is fantastic. There are lovely people here. The craft festival especially sticks in our memory as being a wonderful occasion. “
Agent Chris Dixon says he enjoys the construction of the building.
“It really does a very solid feel and you don’t often see buildings constructed like that these days,” Dixon says.
“The lovely high ceilings, the kauri floors, the sheer size lends itself to many options and opportunities.”
Dixon says Gundaroo is a popular tourist spot.
“It’s very popular with Canberrans and those living the regional areas but it’s also quite popular with Sydneysiders. People often come down to Canberra and do the winery tours here and there are a number of villages within half an hour of Canberra,” Dixon says.
“Peter Thorne is a fascinating fellow. He’s an engineer by trade and he has dabbled in all sorts of enterprises, but he and wife Jenny have been quite enterprising running it as a boutique store. It was previously Devonshire teas and arts and crafts and for a while it was restaurant.”
The Sally Paskins store is still in largely original condition.
“It’s one of the only excellent examples of slab hut constructions left,” Dixon says.
Thorne bought the property in 1976 after leasing the property for a year. He and his partner discovered the property when driving down to Sydney to sell tiles in Canberra. They operated as an arts and craft store, then added a tea room and then ran a spit roast restaurant for a while.
The expressions of interest campaign closes at the end of November, and Dixon is seeking offers over $1 million for the property.