$36 BILLION tourist dollars were spent in Victoria this year, and Penshurst businessowners are hopeful to see their town capture the magic.

An alliance to build the town’s economic potential has been backed up by new facts from Tourism Research Australia.

This is the third in a series of articles interviewing some of the individuals working to put their town on the map.

With tourism growing in the Grampians (59 per cent more than 2019), and recent status ascensions either end of the C178 highway (think the Grampians Peaks Trail and Port Fairy’s Town of the Year win), Penshurst’s main drag just got a whole lot busier.

Bakery Boom

AMANDA and Cameron Wilson have put everything into the Penshurst Store after moving from Horsham.

“My husband is from Warracknabeal, I am from Townsville originally. The kids are all grown up now,” Ms Wilson said.

“My husband, he just loves baking, so we thought we would go do it for ourselves instead of doing it for someone else.

“When we came here you would see the same three people walking around each day and I was thinking, ‘oh my god, what have we done?’.

“But now its activity, all the time, and we have had a lot of younger families move in too.

“Yeah, we have to drive a bit further for things, but from my point of view, if I moved to a small town I would like to know that I can at least go to the pub, have a meal and a beer, you have got food through the day, you have got a takeaway seven days a week, you have the supermarket, the hardware store, the fuel.

“So it is growing but we need it to keep growing. We’ll never leave. For us the location is ideal.”

They knew from the beginning that building the business was going to be risky (which turned out to be exacerbated by COVID), and if they were to attract repeat customers the Penshurst Store had to be a destination to visit in itself.

They began with a soft open – no advertising, they just opened the door and got started serving to give themselves a chance to find their feet.

What shocked them was how quickly the Penshurst Store found itself on travellers’ tongues.

Grey nomads, backpackers and families on trips around the country got talking about the bakery in the little town with a volcano.

“It is mind blowing,” Ms Wilson said.

“The local support and the word of mouth, that’s the thing that has done wonders for our business.

“We did not advertise or anything, we thought we would have a soft opening and find our feet, and they just spread the word.

“And there are still people that come here from Geelong or Adelaide, and they say ‘My cousin drove through’ - and we get a lot of the caravanners, they all talk to each other.

“You get to see a lot of people that will come through twice a year, they will always make an effort to stop in and I try and remember everyone.”

It is clear Amanda sees more businesses as a draw for more customers in town, not as competition.

“I would like to see new people working here and new businesses opening and growing. There is so much potential here. Why can’t we be a Dunkeld?”

Mr and Mrs Wilson never intended to run a “full-on” bakery – just a café that served homemade pastries with a husband-and-wife team behind the counter. That changed pretty quick.

“People drive from crazy places for bee stings,” she laughed.

“We originally thought it would be my husband, myself and a casual... we still pinch ourselves.”

“It is just amazing - we get people from Melbourne that come in here and do massive pie orders to take back.”

“A lot of people come out here, they eat, they browse - and if they’re not from around here they’ll say ‘wow, what a great town – what else can we do?’

“We always send them to Mt Rouse, the botanic gardens, Yatmerone Reserve.

“You can spend half a day here, you can come and have lunch, see the volcano centre with all the new upgrades.

“People who drive through and didn’t know the botanic gardens were there, or the mountain, once they stop and have a look around they realise it has a lot to offer.

“I just think it’s been undervalued a lot over the years. Now people are starting to realise.”

Takeaway Turnaround

Adam Greer and Braydon Dumesney were workmates at a pizza restaurant in Koroit who had been discussing for a while when, where and how they would go into business for themselves.

They were two young guys who just needed an opportunity.

“I was coming through Penshurst with my brothers and I stopped at the store to get a drink,” Mr Greer said.

“The gentleman was closing down and he was just going to close the store and leave Penshurst the next week.”

Mr Greer offered on the spot to buy the place and immediately turned back to Koroit to let Braydon know.

“His first reaction was ‘Penshurst?”

His second reaction was to agree to see it the next day, and within 48 hours the deal was done – they were the new owners of the Penshurst Takeaway.

Mr Greer said that as first-time owners they have been fortunate to encounter locals enthusiastic to give them pointers.

“(One individual) has owned businesses before and he is helping us if we are having any problems, shows us how to get through it and explains it to us.”

“Christmas and New Year we are really busy with tourists because our bakery and pub are closed for a couple weeks.”

He credits the friendly local advice for being the support they needed to make their start.

Mr Greer said he definitely sees more potential for shops to open in Penshurst.

Both he and Braydon excitedly welcomed their new next-door storeowner, Sarah Vafidis, who opened her boutique nursery two days before Christmas.

“There are so many more shops that could be here,” he said.

“We are a farming community; a vet clinic would be awesome.”

Having now fully moved to Penshurst himself, he says the number one reason he is glad he did is because of all the “really good, beautiful people”.