The latest link in the Hills chain: the wonderful, happy Carrie and Graham Matthews at Hill’s Corner Store
“We find it so rewarding,” Graham said.
“It is nice to get to know the customers, build bonds and keep the tradition of Hills alive, happy smiles and service.”
By Kimberly Grabham
Carrie and Graham Matthews are the fresh-faced, always smiling, happy duo that own Hills Corner Store. A lot of people may think Hills Corner Store is just a shop like any other. They would be wrong.
Carrie and Graham immensely love their work, but it is more of a lifestyle than a business.
“We get up at 3.30 am every morning,” Carrie said. “The first thing I do is turn on the pie warmer, and fill it with pies. I turn on the slushie and coffee machines, and I shower.
“At 4.30am the bread delivery arrives, and then the production line of sandwiches and rolls starts. Egg and bacon rolls are prepared after that, and in between we are serving customers from 5am.
“The milk order comes in after that, followed by other early deliveries. We then fill fridges, and make stock orders.”
The day progresses with the couple ensuring everything is kept stocked, ordered, serving customers, Graham completing bookwork, and Carrie overseeing the kitchen, ensuring all is prepared and up to date.
“Bookwork is something I had never done before,” Graham said. “The wonderful Susan Hanna came in to give me a crash course, and then, after a few brief reassurances, I was off and running.”
The average day for the couple starts at 3.30 am and ends at 7pm.
These 13 and 14-hour days are something they do seven days a week.
“It is quite full on,” Carrie and Graham said.
“We were nervous at first, but it’s been really good, in spite of being full on. It becomes your life to a certain extent, but we are glad to put the hard yards in for a brighter future.”
When the couple first began their venture, they worked solo, and often didn’t finish their days until 8pm or after.
Luckily, their treasured friend, Sheree Doidge offered her assistance, and worked with them for a time. The next full-time worker to come along was Mel Bolger, who is still a lovely, happy face seen behind the counter. They have had many other young staff over their four years in the role.
“We have really been lucky with our staff,” Carrie said. “It is a big deal for us to have workers, and they have to be special. We live here, the workspace is also our home, and it means a lot to have treasured and trusted helpers in our home for a good deal of the time.”
Graham, son of John and Dawn Matthews, grew up on Daisy Plains for the first 10 months of his life. The family then moved to Wyvern. He commenced school at age four, travelling to Griffith Primary School via bus. A couple of years later, the family moved to Carrathool, and he attended the school there.
“School didn’t know what hit it,” he laughed.
He completed his secondary education at Hay War Memorial High School, graduating in 1989.
His passion for music started when he was young.
“When we lived at Carrathool there wasn’t much to do, so I asked my parents for a guitar,” Graham recalled. “They bought a second-hand guitar from a neighbour, and I taught myself to play.
“I never had lessons, always self-taught. I can’t read music; I play by ear. My first public performance was when I was 11, at the Carrathool Pub.”
Carrie was born in Deniliquin, and lived there until she was three, her family then moving to Hay.
Her family originally moved here to open another branch of the family business, Short Electrical. She was raised by a single mother, one of four girls.
“My mother is a wonderful lady, and did a great job as a single mother,” Carrie said. “I think I inherited my work ethic from her.”
Carrie completed all her schooling in Hay.
After school, Graham gained a role in the market gardens for Roberto’s and Perrotta’s, before moving to Melbourne.
“As luck would have it, I moved there in 1990, during the ‘recession we had to have’,” Graham chuckled. “I visited 40 plus factories looking for work, as a fridge mechanic. I had previous experience working for Peter McManus, so I was hopeful. I could not find a job anywhere, nobody was hiring.”
After a few months, he returned to Hay, and back to the market gardens, before moving onto the Shire in 1997.
It was during this time that Graham met Carrie.
They first met at the pub and chatted at first, getting to know each other, before crossing paths again at the Carrathool Races.
“We’ve been together ever since,” Graham said with a smile.
Since Graham’s parents lived close by, Graham took Carrie to meet them, and his uncle, who was visiting at the time.
Carrie’s ride back to Hay had gone home, so Graham took her back into town the next day.
Carrie has also had many roles over the years, all which she loved.
“The majority of my career was spent in home care, and I adored that role,” she said. “It was an unfortunate situation that I needed to pursue other options, for better pay.
“It is wonderful working at Hills, as often my old clients come in and I can still have a chat and catch up with them.”
Carrie also worked at Cumquats, and cherished that role, enjoying working for Richard and Mary-Anne Towler. She also worked at IGA and the Mobil, now Shell.
The opportunity to take on Hills came at a fortuitous time for the couple.
“I had my fortune read before we made the decision to buy Hills,” Carrie recalled. “The lady told me we would have a successful business. Graham and I then started discussing wanting to retire at a decent age, and with some security.
“During that time, Graham came home one day and said the Hills opportunity had cropped up, so we looked into that, two weeks later we were signing paperwork and moving in.”
Carrie and Graham consulted with their two children, Jackson and Bonnie, before making the final decision.
“We find it so rewarding,” Graham said. “It is nice to get to know the customers, build bonds and keep the tradition of Hills alive, happy smiles and service.”
Graham loved his job, but after 23 years of dedication at the Shire he needed a change and a challenge. And that is exactly what working at a venue such as Hills takes, that constant attention to detail, and operating in such a way that delivers premium, quality product and services time after time.
“It is much the same as my music, I pour that calibre of hard work into every performance,” he added.
Graham has had a long and varied career in music, first the Freshmans, who played together throughout High School. Then came Ruff as Gutz. This band had four different line ups over the years, with the one constant being Graham.
He always played lead guitar and performed lead vocals. Around the year 2000 came Highway 21, and they would travel a lot, heading away almost every weekend to places around the district including West Wyalong, Leeton, Rutherglen and Echuca.
Of course, there was the highly popular bands ‘Nuff Said and Me and Mrs Jones.
Carrie and Graham were both a little apprehensive about the risk of taking on a business, as they had never been business owners before.
However, they both felt sometimes if there is never risk, there is never reward. The couple had previously bought an investment property with a friend, near Drysdale in Geelong, as an asset.
Carrie and Graham first moved into Hills and started business on April Fool’s Day 2020. It wasn’t long after this that the COVID era well and truly hit.
“It was a struggle through the COVID times,” Graham said. “We could still sell groceries and stay open, which was good.”
“Our saving grace was that through my work as a home care worker, I knew all the hygiene practices, implemented them, and we kept up to date with our COVID plans, and all the implementations we were obligated to do,” Carrie added.
“We also started our burger menu during this time, as some of the food venues had to close, so we decided to offer something different, and made our own menu of unique burgers.”
The couple say that customer service and connecting to people is one of the most important aspects of their role.
“To carry on the tradition of Hills, to give that experience to the next generation of children is something really valued by us,” Graham said. “I never grew up in Hay, but I have heard the stories about what the shop meant, and coming here as a little kid has meant to so many people, and we really try to keep that going.”
Hills these days is a true family affair, with Dawn popping in on a Saturday to pack lollies, John doing bits and pieces in between his time at Hay Gaol Museum. Rhonda, Carrie’s mum cooks her heart out in the winter time, concocting many of the Winter Warmer treats which Hills offer on a Wednesday. Carrie’s sister Becky often steps in to help as needed.
Speaking as both a customer and a mother, I can attest to the fact that Carrie and Graham keep the Hills spirit alive and blazing.
One day, my daughter walked in, just a toddler, and said, “Hi Carrie, hi Graham,” like they were all old friends. The couple rolled with that, doting on my daughter, waiting on her hand and foot. Hills is one of my daughter’s favourite places to go.
I can barely wipe the smile from my face while we are there, as I can see the magic alive and well.
