Bill Toole says he’s planning a holiday before re-oping his online Tooles Disposals shop, after a huge clearing sale at Tooles warehouse at Bandiana saw almost 1000 items go under the hammer.
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Two of Wodonga’s best known businesses combined on Saturday for the clearing sale.
While the iconic disposal and collectables shop has been part of the Wodonga landscape since 1939, it was another Wodonga institution – Corcoran Parker – which had the task of selling the 750 lots as well as hundreds of miscellaneous other items.
“It has been a big day, it’s been a big six weeks actually,” he said afterwards.
“I’ve kept some core stock, I don’t need as much storage now. It’s pretty much all being sold, I’ll take off for a few weeks and then fire up my Ebay business again in early August.”
Hundrfeds of military items sold dated as far back as World War II as well as from the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars.
They included uniforms, binoculars, gas masks, army stretchers, military hospital beds, former mess crockery, radios, body bags and even an interception plotter used in the Battle of Britain.
There was also a large collection of items from Ansett Australia, which went into liquidation in 2002, including branded playing cards, model planes, crockery and silver plated coffee pots.
Mr Toole said most of the crowd were there to buy, and he admitted it was an usual feeling being on the other side of the action.
“I knew I’d have to close my eyes for some of it, and I didn’t cry, but I was prepared for some of the stock to go very cheap … some of the items bought good money,” he said.
“It’s been an experience, I’ve only ever attended auctions to buy, I’ve never held one.
“It was strange, I had the jitters, I didn't register to get a buyer’s number and I wanted to put my hand up a few times.”
Military body bags were a good seller, with Mr Toole saying they were multi-purpose with “a lot of uses other than for bodies”.
He said the Ansett memorabilia also attracted solid bidding and sold easily.
“Rocky” the riding horse, which used to operate in the High Street shop, and made an appearance in the movie Strange Bedfellows, was passed in.
“I might put him out to pasture for a while,” Mr Toole joked about the coin-operated amusement ride.
Bill Toole’s mechanic father Pat started Tooles Disposals on the corner of High and Stanley streets in Wodonga in 1939.
After the central Wodonga building was sold in 2011 Bill and his wife Debbie moved the stock to their warehouse and operated from there while also focusing on online selling.
The shed Bill and Debbie Toole have been using needed to be vacated by the end of this week.
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