New Location – 57 Albert Street
Grape Gully is a gift shop with everything you can imagine and some items you have never thought of. Karen says she still gets a buzz when a customer finds just the right thing.
‘They don’t know what they want when they come in her. Just here to nose around” they say. “When they find the item that excites them it excites me” says Karen.
Coming from a background of retail, mostly in fashion she was used to working many weekends. For one year she worked as a staff person in Grapefruit Gully in Monk St. Then in 1998 she purchased the business. In those early days in Whitianga, only Grapefruit Gully and one other premises was open for business on Sundays.
In the past several decades she has worked in the business seven days a week. The only day she takes off is Christmas Day. Hard work is in Karen’s blood. She is a first-generation New Zealander born to Dutch parents who arrived here in the early 1950’s. Dutch people are known for their hard work and Karen’s parents were no exception.
Karen’s mother taught her sewing and knitting. Over the years she has expanded her skill set into many more crafts. Her parents were self employed and as is typical of the Dutch, sick days and days off were not on their agenda. Her father was a baker in Holland. In NZ he learnt cheese making. Finally, he became a very exact and clever painter, decorator.
Over the last month two months she has moved Grapefruit Gully from Monk Street to the new location in the bigger, brighter shop at 57 Albert St. The shift has been exhausting with so many trips in her tiny car. She could not have done it without the help of her friend, Darren Hartley from Coastal Signs. Darren is a handyman who has made the premises workable, efficient, and effective. He has done this while all the time working at his own business.
The new shop comes with two new bonuses. 1. Ease of set up. Previously Karen had to dress the exterior verandah of her Monk Street shop. This would take 2 hours each day.
2. This premises is much larger all allowing for more goods, and even includes an alley for plants and outdoor items.
Karen is a creative person, but despite being surrounded by all kinds of craft materials, she never had the time or the space to do any craft herself. In the larger premises this will change. There is a small area where she could pursue her own creative activities. In the quieter trading times of winter this may now be a possibility.
The name ‘Grapefruit Gully’ was given to the business by the previous owner. At first the business operated out of her home named ‘Grapefuit Gully’ where she created various arts and crafts. When the business moved from her house to the Monk St premises the name moved with it.
When it was known that she was to locate her business in a different, spacious premises her friends told Karen, “You wont know yourself”. What they were referring to was the fact that she would no longer have to spend two hours each morning setting up the outdoor space at the front of her store. “They are right” Karen says with a sigh of relief. Two notice boards on the foot path is now the only setting up she has to do.
A sandwich board outside the store now say it all. ‘You will find something for everyone in here. For every budget’ The adjacent poster tells the character of the business – “Affordable eclectic and a little bit silly.”
Karen believes the customers will enjoy the new space which allows her huge amont of stock to be better displayed.
