New era has dawned for Hills - the little store with the lot

Graham, Carrie and their staff Mel Bolger and Sheree Doidge.

Graham and Carrie Matthews are now the new proud owners of Hills Corner Store Hay, their official trading name.

For the past two years, Graham and Carrie had leased the premises from Pat and Wayne Mitchell who have owned the business since 2007.

This has been a big move for Graham and Carrie who have been buoyed by the immense support of many people.

They would like to acknowledge the huge support of their customers and friends in this venture, and said it has been most gratifying.

Running their own business has been a very steep learning curve for both. Prior to this, they had stable Monday to Friday jobs.

It has been a challenge getting up at 3.30am to prepare food, make sandwiches and hamburgers, heat pies and prepare the shop for opening at 5am when customers come in on their way to work to get their food for the day. Working seven days a week has added to that challenge.

There have been some innovations over the past two years, such as Hotdog Fridays, selling over 100 hotdogs each Friday in mid-winter.

Not to mention the hundreds of pies per week in winter.

There have been other times when specials like soup of the day appear on the menu, and Carrie intends to continue these pop-up special days.

The little shop with the lot,- there is not much that cannot be obtained at the shop, the choice of lollies must be seen to be believed.

People have come from Griffith to get their lolly fix.