Corner stores used to play an important role in nearly every suburb, town and village across the country and in Millthorpe the corner store there still plays an important role in providing the locals with essential items.
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So it was a shock for locals to discover that the doors on the shop were closed as the sale of the building progressed.
Millthorpe local Peter Amos's family owned and operated the store from 1926 to 1987 and said that it had never been closed since his grandfather Alfred Amos purchased the building in 1926.
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"He purchased it as a vacant possession as the owners had gone broke," he said. "He started all over again and put in a grocery, hardware, footwear and also a drapery."
Like most corner stores at the time the family always lived above them, and that was the case for the Amos family.
"My father Jack left school in 1931 to work in the shop and later took over its running," Mr Amos said, "I can remember riding my trike on the verandah as a kid, even though the posts and decking were rotten along Pym Street," he said.
In the 1960's Lyndhurst Shire Council placed an order on most of the buildings in Millthorpe to remove their verandahs, citing they posed a hazard to vehicles when parking and if bumped could cause the verandahs to fall.
From then until 2012 when it was rebuilt by Sam and Shona Kay, the verandah was replaced by a simple awning, which meant a loss of living space for those living above the shop.
"My father Jack built the sun room extension on the back of the store because we'd lost so much space when the verandah was taken down. I can even remember helping to pull it down," Mr Amos said.
When Alfred Amos purchased the store in 1926 it was empty and now almost 100 years later the store may be purchased by another family that is looking to live and work in the village.
Ian Ashcroft, of the Ashcroft Group that owns IGA supermarkets in Orange, Dubbo and Erskine Park, has confirmed that the sale of the store is still underway.
"We were offered the property as an empty building by the owner and we're 90 per cent confident that the sale will be completed in three to four weeks' time," he said.
"At this point our sons Ben and Adam will, if everything goes ahead, run a smallish supermarket which we think will be great for Millthorpe," he said. "One of them will be living above the store because you can't run a store like that remotely. We want to be part of the Millthorpe community."
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