Stories of Resilience - Moonbi General Store

Tingha

Nestled in the foothills of the Moonbi Range, the village of Moonbi is 20km north of Tamworth and has a population of close to 500. As with many small regional townships, the general store is highly valued by locals but also benefits from passing trade on the New England highway. The Moonbi General Store (and takeaway) and the adjacent bottle shop are family businesses, operated by Claus and Sue, together with their son Jeffery. Their connectedness with and support of their community has resulted in enduring local support for them and national recognition for their resilience. The Moonbi business persevered through dense bushfire smoke from the burning Moonbi range and introduced Covid rations to ensure availability of essential supplies for their community.

“So, we own two stores. We have the bottle shop, which we’ve had for three years, where we sell a range of liquor, wines, spirits and beers. Then we have the General Store next door, which we have had for six years, where we sell great takeaway food, we have a range of groceries, newspapers and magazines and more,” Moonbi Store Manager Jeffery Mahlenhoff said.

"Over the past six years, we've gone through
a really bad drought, the bushfires, then Covid
for two years was a real dampener on business
But the town is finally comming back."

Tough Times for Six Years

“Over the past six years, we’ve gone through a really bad drought, the bushfires, then Covid for two years was a real dampener on business, but the town is finally coming back.”

“With the bushfires, the road (New England Highway) was closed, which decreases the amount of traffic that passed through. Roads all across NSW were also closed, so the traffic flow was not that great (throughout the fire season). With the road closed, the business was impacted quite a lot.”

“Covid really brought down our sales, our business. We’re finally coming back but our customers who stuck with us and supported us every day, got their loaf of bread, got their bottle of milk and their newspaper was what really kept us going to this day now.”

National Recognition for Resilience

“Just recently, we won an award with the New Idea Magazine. There were five stores across Australia that won the award. The award was for resilience. So, any little thing that we could do to help the community over Covid, we did; like bringing in a big bag of flour and breaking it down into smaller things, so we could meet the needs of people. There were shortages of toilet paper, so we were selling single rolls that we could get from the supplier. We showed the community that we were here every day. We helped them, we did what we could.”

"Any little thing that we could do
to help the community over Covid we did;
Like bringing in a big bag of flour and breaking it down into smaller things so we could meet the needs of the people."

The Importance of Community

“The community support was amazing. Every day, people would come see us, they would check on us. They would make sure we were right, even though we were trying to make sure they were right. We had their bread, their milk, their newspaper, we might not have had everything they wanted but we still found a way to help them get what they needed.”
For Jeffery, his parents and their staff, the people who come through the doors or their general store and takeaway or their liquor shop are more than just customers and that has been key to their resilience.

"When we go through tough times,
you need to have great staff, you need to have great family,
most of all, have a great community."

“When we go through tough times, you need to have great staff, your need to have great family and you need to, most of all, have a great community. You just try your best to do what you need to do for the community. You’ve got to love them, almost look at them like family,”

“Most of all, you’ve just got to make sure your community loves you, just as much as you love them,” Jeffery said.