PEOPLE driving through Narrawong on the Princes Highway may have seen a fair bit of activity happening on site at the semi-renovated old Narrawong Store.

While the Observer has been keeping an eye on progress, with our last story appearing on March 21 this year, there’s been a bit of a lull in building work through the worst of Narrawong’s infamous wild winter.

But the troops have arrived, so to speak. With the guys from Felk Building Group now on site, store owner Darren Hunter is confident the renovations will be completed and ready for a lease-holder to move into well before Christmas.

Luke Filipovic is owner of Felk Building Group and the Observer caught him and his tradies Jayme Cannon and Mitch Johnson hard at work early last week, demolishing the eastern side of the old store and replacing any rotten bits.

Unsurprisingly, given the age of the building, that has amounted to quite a bit.

It’s been a bit of a challenge, Mr Filipovic admitted. “The scope of works has gone way beyond what we expected. I guess that it being an older building, there are a few maintenance issues we have to approach just to make sure it’s up to standard and back up to scratch.

“So, we’re just going through and replacing any rot or anything else that doesn’t look too structurally sound and swapping it over. We’ve had to replace a few stumps because the floor has obviously sagged over time.”

As for any exciting finds discovered under the old floorboards, the best Mr Filipovic could offer was one dead cat and a dead rabbit, while Mr Hunter found a poster of John Paul Young circa 1977. Luckily though, there have been no snake sightings. With all the activity around the place now, any that might have made themselves at home there are long gone.

But the builders have attracted a lot of attention from elsewhere.

“Locals seem to be crazy about the place,” said Mr Filipovic. “We have people stopping in all the time, wanting to know what it’s going to be (when it’s finished). The number of trucks and other (cars) that stopped was just ridiculous.”

And he and Mr Hunter can’t help but have a bit of fun with bending the truth here, with Mr Filipovic telling a few that the store was going to be a Hungry Jacks, and Mr Hunter telling some it was going to be a multi-unit development. But whatever the outcome – and it WILL be a store, Mr Hunter emphasises – both are convinced that locals and passing traffic will “just flock to it”.

Ultimately, the final work on the store will include recladding the stripped back building, replacing the old windows with 6mm-thick safety glass – the old windows were just 3mm – and making an entrance with a ramp on it so it’s more accessible for those who can’t manage steps. The old cool room will also be shifted for the time being, Mr Hunter said, to enable the builders to replace floorboards there, but replaced in a more appropriate position.

The new layout will also include a servery window so people can order without having to go inside, if they prefer, with a new French (double) door at the entrance. Essentially, it will be more streamlined so it all flows more easily for whoever takes it on, Mr Hunter said.

The local community is delighted with the progress. Long-time resident Owen Roberts said the restoration of the old store is “long overdue”.

“It’s something the district has been deprived of for a good number of years,” he said, at a regular Wednesday general get-together of locals last week, which Mayor Scott Martin attended on this occasion.

Mr Hunter joined the group to provide them with an update on progress on the store.

Mr Roberts remembers the store being a central part of everyday life from as far back as his own childhood. He grew up in Narrawong and went to the local school, and said the store was originally located somewhere near and across the road from where the primary school is now. The building was bought by the first proprietors who transferred it to its current site and attached it to the house in about 1946, he said.

The store had a veranda on it back then, facing the highway, and Mr Roberts remembers sheltering under it on his way to and from school when it was raining.

“There have been a few changes and several operators over the years, including Tony Boyer – who lived to the grand age of 101,” he said.

“This is going to be a complete transformation and one we’re all looking forward to.”