Category: social responsibility

Storytime:  “I need a gold pen please.” I looked up to see Jean, an 80-something long-time customer. “I need a gold pen so I can spread some sunshine.” Jean was smiling.

We had this thing where she would tell me part of a plan and I had to guess. I brought several gold gel and felt tip pens to the counter for Jean to try. “Let me guess, you’re going to draw the sun?”  “No, silly. I am writing to each of my grand kids, telling them how much I love them, what they mean to me and how I’ll see them soon. The gold ink adds a brightness to the note, makes it shine.”

After bagging up two pens Jean selected, Jean looked at me for a moment before speaking. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. I might draw a cute sun on each note. Cheerio,” jean said as she was on her way.

We love hearing what our customers do with what they buy, the joy something as simple as a pen can bring.

Storytime:  “This is the happiest gift we’ve seen in ages,” Helen said, putting 4 of the new Silo Art Trail calendars on the counter. Helen and Terry are locals we’ve got to know over the years. They like to shop early for Christmas gifts for family overseas.

“We love that the calendars are Australian made and feature country towns and the wonderful silo art.” Helen was very happy with her purchase. “We’re thinking of doing a trip to see some of them.” Tony was looking over the silos.

“We loved the calendar when we saw it too,” I said. “It’s such a uniquely Aussie gift.” It’s the truth. When we saw the calendar and read the story behind it, it have us goosebumps.

It’s hard to find gifts like this. We are so grateful to the artists and the communities who will benefit from the sale of the calendars.

Storytime.  Bob put his paper on the counter and said “my kid says to me today I’m hungry so I says to him, Hi hungry, I’m dad.” He slapped his hand on the paper and laughed. I couldn’t let this go, so I said “My kid said to me dad, can you put my shoes on. So I said, nah, they won’t fit me.”

Bob started telling the dad jokes a few weeks ago. I found out he was going to different shops telling jokes, giving us all a laugh. Now, we trade jokes regularly. It’s a hoot.

We have the best customers.

Storytime.  “I don’t know what to write.” It’s a common comment people make when buying a sympathy card, more common from guys in our experience. They say it looking for advice. We had a guy in the other day who bought a sympathy card and asked for our help. “My nan died and this is for my mum,” he said putting the card on the counter. “I know a card is the right thing to do but what do I write?”

I offered what we have found to be the best advice. “Write what you’d like your mum to read a few years from now, something that reflects how you feel about your nan and about your mum’s loss. A happy memory maybe. People hang on to sympathy cards and what you write today will be a comfort for her years later.”

Every day we get to talk with our customers about the most personal situations. It’s something to treasure about being a newsagent.

Storytime.  Young Harry was our youngest shopper the other day. He’s 6, because he told us. “I’m 6,” he said, passing up a scrap book to buy. Out of his pocket he pulled two small handfuls of coins. “It’s for my great gran,” Harry said, “we can’t see her and I want to make her smile because she’s sad and I want to make her smile.” Harry was on a mission.

“I bet you’re going to fill it with some good drawings,” I said to Harry, handing back the scrapbook. “And photos,” he said, “we’ve got photos and I made this poster for school, so we are going to stick that in there and I’m going to write her a story, aren’t I mum?” Mum looked on, proud and smiling. “This is going to make her happy isn’t it mum?”

Harry and his mum walked out holding hands.

It makes us feel good knowing that a basic scrapbook we sell will become a cherished keepsake that brings joy.

Storytime.  “Hey, do you have a small pad like the size of a pack of cards or smaller?” “Sure,” I said, and grabbed a couple of pads from our stationery area and put them on the counter, in front of the young guy, “take a look at these.” He flicked through, fanning the pages. “They are perfect.” He was smiling.

I usually leave customers to their purchases. This time, curiosity got the better of me. “Can I ask what they are for?” “It’s my grandma, she’s in a nursing home and we can’t visit on account of the corona as I’m going to make a flip book cartoon for her of her and me hugging.”=

“What a beautiful gesture,” I said, feeling choked up. “I’d love to see it when you’re done if possible.” “Sure,” he said.

A week later he was back. The cartoon was amazing, so creative.

It’s a privilege in retail to serve customers who express themselves in the most wonderful ways.

Storytime.  “Yellow, I need everything I can get that you have that is yellow.” Marie is always a spot of brightness when she visits. “I’m tired of gloominess. I am going to create a bright sunrise in my front window.” She showed us a sketch of what she had planned.

We put together several shades of bright yellow poster card, yellow paper, yellow tissue paper and yellow ribbon. Oh, and a little bit of red tissue paper for the core of the sunrise.

A few days later, we drove past Marie’s house and sure enough, she had created the most beautiful sunrise. Her front window was bright and cheerful.

It is wonderful seeing people like Marie create sunshine.

Storytime. Through his mask, 70-something Walter spoke quietly with a tone of sadness in his voice. “I want to hug my granddaughter and tell her it will be okay. She’s in her last year of high school and we all know how that’s going this year.”

Walter was a long time regular, although not so much in recent months because of corona. “It breaks my heart what this year is doing not only to her but everyone.”

After a chat we found out Walter’s granddaughter adores pandas. Walter loved the card we had with a big fat panda on it. “I can’t hug you but this panda can,” he wrote inside the card. Walter left the shop to post the card, with a smile on his face.

People are finding other ways to love those they love in 2020.

Storytime. We had a string of new customers in last week buying different things. It was a thrill to see so many new faces. We commented to one that we loved seeing new faces. “It’s locals shopping with locals,” they said. They explained that they got the idea on Facebook where people were talking about supporting locally owned businesses, to support the local economy. We felt blessed for these angels spending money with locally owned businesses. #LocalsShoppingWithLocals Thank you!

Even in the middle of corona, we live in times of sunshine and goodness.

Storytime. I could tell eighty-something Nancy was sad as she looked at a jigsaw of Paris that we had for sale. I’ve known her a while and knew I could ask. “Why so sad Nancy?” “I put it off for too long, didn’t I?” “What, Nancy?” “When Terry died fifteen years ago, I said I’d go to Paris. I’ve never been and it had been a dream since I was a kid. I planned to go. Finally, late last year I booked, you know, on one of those tours, I’d be there now.” “Oh, I’m so sorry Nancy.” “Don’t be sorry, it’s my own fault. I should have gone sooner. Now, I fear it might be too late thanks to corona.”

Every day we hear stories of people with plans on hold, adventures missed, all thanks to corona.

When Nancy brought the jigsaw to the counter to purchase it, she was smiling a wry smile. “Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today, my mum used to say. She was right.”

Storytime. A lady last week asked us to print copies of two resumes. It turned out she was helping her neighbours, a couple, both of whom have lost their jobs due to corona. One was on JobKeeper and the other was not. They have 2 kids, one with a health challenge, and a mortgage. “We are trying to help them find work,” she said, “there are plenty of others worse off.”

“No charge,” I said as I handed them the copies of their resumes. While it is cliché we do believe that we are all in this together.

One of the best ways to celebrate good we see in others is to amplify it when we are able.

Storytime. I turn on the TV news at night and see stories about people misbehaving in relation to corona. While I get it that those stories are news, there are many other uplifting corona stories. Like the school teacher we heard of the other day who is now working 20 hours a week extra, unpaid, because of home schooling, and that they are paying their own internet access for video teaching of their kids.

I heard the story about a local mechanic who helped a young kid get their car back on the road for free so they did not have to travel on public transport.

Then, there was the story about the family that was cooking evening meals for the family of a single mum, their neighbour, who is a nurse and on the front line.

Our community is full of wonderful stories of community. These stories warm our hearts.