Embracing local is key

From her first market stall at the Denman Pig Races in 2018 Park & Pine has grown from strength to strength.

When Shannon Le Brocq got to a point with her business Park & Pine that she was able to open a store, she made a conscious decision to embrace local.

When shopping for brands and collections to stock she visited other local stores but not to see what their best sellers were.

“I started looking at what people can and can’t get in the area – I know a couple of other shops do offer little ranges of certain things so I have looked at things that you otherwise would have had to go to Maitland to get,” she said.

“That is how I have tried to fill it, by filling those gaps of what we otherwise would have to travel to go and get.”

Mrs Le Brocq did every market she could between Maitland and Quirindi for two years saving every bit she could to achieve the dream of opening her own store in February this year.

At the end of March, for the safety of her family, the decision was made to close doors until mid June and thanks to an understanding landlord and supportive community Park & Pine is gearing up for a bumper Christmas.

“I don’t know that people will even need to leave town,” Mrs Le Brocq said of sourcing gifts in 2020.

“Between what we’ve got here in Scone as a whole and Muswellbrook as a whole there is very little that people aren’t going to be able to not get.

“I think it is super important to support local, to support Australian made, that’s always been a focus of mine.

“My first port of call when sourcing stock was to get in touch with some other local makers so probably 50 per cent of my suppliers are other small businesses because I think it is important to give them a foothold.”