Peter White reckons it’s about time he put his feet up, so it’s a good thing he’s got plenty of recliners to choose from.
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The well-known businessman is hanging up his boots after 31 years, clearing out his furniture shop before the financial year ends.
He will keep the showroom on High Street to lease out, though it will be a long time before it adopts a new identity in the community’s mind, after decades of radio plugs and ‘Howzaaats!’.
“You have to enjoy your work, which I have done, but the old bones are getting a bit tired now,” he said.
“I’m at an age where I could probably go for another five or 10 years if I wanted to, but why wait until you’re 75 or 80 to retire?
“I can’t tow my caravan then, I’ll be too old, you can’t enjoy it as much.
“It came as a bit of a shock to a lot of people, they expected me to go forever.”
His furniture store is one of the longest-standing businesses on High Street, and his plans to shut shop come as one of Dean Street’s oldest stores, Hunters Shoes, is also closing down.
The outspoken salesman has been known on the Border for decades – he was on Wodonga Council from 1988 until 1994 and worked as an insurance agent for 10 years.
Looking for a new venture, Mr White started off selling second-hand furniture out of his garage.
“I got sick of selling insurance, and I don’t know what it was – one day I was up at Yackandandah at a shop and he had a bit of old furniture, and I looked at the prices and went, ‘Hmmm, OK’,” he said.
“So I went to a clearing sale at Sandy Creek and made a note of what everything went for, went to a couple shops, and thought, ‘I can do that’.
“I just started off in the garage at home, selling second-hand stuff … I built the showroom in 1996, and here I am.”
As for regrets, Mr White said he doesn’t have too many and is grateful to his community.
“I want to say thank you to the community for their support – Wodonga’s served me well,” he said.
“You can’t please everybody all the time, you could try your best and it wouldn’t matter for some people, it’s never enough.
“I’ve probably upset a few people over the years and if I had my time over I would probably do different, but I believe if you have something to say, you should.
“I think it was more the public putting up with me … which I’m grateful for.”
