By Olivia Condous
A longstanding Melton business is planning to shut its doors for good this year, as the last store in the country of what once was a large Australian franchise chain.
Bargain Box Fabrics in Melton South has been owned and run by Susan Robertson for more than 25 years, but the time has come for the 72-year-old to move on to retirement and say goodbye to her beloved business.
Ms Robertson said she’d tried to attract a buyer so that her now independent fabric business could live on, but despite receiving some interest no one had made a serious offer.
“I just would love to see somebody take it on and they could put their own spin on it,
“The business is sound, it’s just that no one is game enough to take it on,” Ms Robertson said.
Bargain Box Fabrics was once a successful business chain with 77 stores across the country in the 1990s.
As all the other Australian stores closed down in recent years, Ms Robertson’s store received continued support from the Melton community and is the last one standing.
“You should see the happy faces that we have come into the shop, they say ‘wow, this is like a lolly shop,’, they’re so happy to find a fabric shop in town,
“All my customers don’t want it to close, they’re all very upset,” Ms Robertson said.
“There’s some people that have come in the last few months who haven’t left their house for the past two years and we’re one of the first shops that they come to.”
Ms Robertson said she would accept offers to buy the business until the last moment and was happy to work with potential buyers to help them make the store their own.
At this stage, Ms Robertson plans to close the store down in June, if a buyer doesn’t come forward.
