Humans in St Leonards

After forty-four years in the little hardware shop that had it all, Beth and Phil Shoppee are calling it a day. There is no end of stories they could tell and even more that could be added by their customers, friends and family over that time, but just for now, we will begin with a few words of farewell and thank you from Beth and Phil, to the crowd of many at the St Leonards Memorial Hall Sunday 29 June 2025, and then a bit more.

“Thank you all for coming. We are very grateful. We will miss everyone but are ready for the next chapter. Philip will be able to restore some of his Ford cars. We look forward to more grand-parenting time. 

It has been a rewarding journey and we are grateful for the support we received from all the local clubs and community. We would like to thank our sons for their help in the business which was from a very young age and are very proud of their achievements and the families they now have. We would like to thank Una and Mark Wright who have been on this journey with us. Una, our accounts manager for the forty-four years has been the best in many ways.

I came from an office job and would say ‘the key cutter and paint mixer isn’t in today’ but realised I had to learn and Philip taught me. 

Thanks go to Les as the chief wheelbarrow assembler, who also took charge of stacking the potting mix and sweeping among other things. Many thanks to Keith and Henry for all their help and Peter who volunteered to price stock on a Friday and under pressure did a great job. 

Overall too many to recall individually, many funny stories through the years (so), unless you have your sleeping bags with you we’ll leave it for another time. 

You never stop learning and it has been a pleasure to have such great community support. Thank you to the Progress Association for their contribution today which has been very humbling.”

The St Leonards Hardware was one of the first occupants at the west end of the new complex on the south side of Murradoc Road which replaced the old ’Big Store’ that burnt to the ground in 1981. Beth and Phil proudly display the dollar note which was spent by their first customer Mrs. Jean Rigby (Una Wright’s mother) on batteries, at the ungodly hour of 6.00a.m. on their first day of trade.

‘The town looked very different then’. This new complex also housed the bakery, Whites Fisheries, the mini-mart and a gift shop. The surrounding businesses included the chemist, Ray Maki’s fruit and vegetable stall, the news-agency and post office, a butcher shop, estate agent, ANZ bank, fish and chips and pizza shop, and a café and fun parlour. When the café and fun parlour closed Phil and Beth purchased the end shop and moved across Murradoc Road to the new building which is where they’ve been for the past twenty nine years. Beth says that “the day of the move was a community effort, with wheelbarrows going back and forth like ants – many assisted.” Una adds that the ‘pharmacist Mr. Trinder was very kind and allowed them to run an extension lead across to the shop as the power had not yet been connected. //

Una says “their incredible customer service is recalled by many – not just between normal working hours, but often coming to the aid of the commercial fishing fleet, sometimes during the dead of night.’

And over time the population of St Leonards grew. Phil says “we used to know everyone who came in to the shop and it was a big deal if someone new came in. Now if someone we know comes in it’s a big deal. Everyone knew everyone and everyone was probably related so you dare not say anything against anyone, in case they were related.” 

Over their mammoth forty-four year journey they have raised two sons, PJ and Johnny who gained a very early knowledge of hardware and ‘entertained and amused their customers with their polite manner.’ Both have now forged professional careers and are busy raising their own families.  

We thank Beth and Phil for their much loved shop that somehow had everything you could think of (I liken it to Mary Poppins’ bag) and for their generous support to the people, clubs and community groups of the town.