Gum Tree Pies owners Sebastian and Melinda Nedziak were "inundated" with resumes ahead of their Wodonga store opening and plan to operate the shop daily.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Junction Place prefabricated train carriages behind the Goods Shed were confirmed in October as the location for their fourth site.
"It's been going really well, we only opened a week and half before Christmas," Mrs Nedziak said.
"Usually our other stores are more quiet leading up to Christmas, but Wodonga was absolutely flat out, which is great.
"It goes to show how excited people were for us to be coming.
"We had the 'opening soon' sign up and people had been asking every day when we were going to open.
"As soon as we got the connection date from AusNet, it was all systems go."
Demand has meant twice-daily trips from Yackandandah, where the pies and cakes are made.
The prefabricated look-alike train carriage, the first of three to be leased, has been fitted out with a pie oven, warmers and a coffee machine.
"It's on a smaller scale than our other shops, with it being takeaway. We have beautiful outdoor seating as part of Junction Place; we've got more outdoor tables coming," Mrs Nedziak said.
"We are very excited to see what's coming in. We're always asking for updates from the real estate and the owner at Station 73.
"It would be great to get something going in there [the other carriages] for sure; it's got the ability to be one big business, or it can be divided into two, being the same size as ours.
"It's going to make such a great little hub."
It has been the first decent holiday season of operation for the new Beechworth store.
Mrs Nedziak said business was up in Bright and Yackandandah too, with Victorians advised against leaving the state.
"Everyone has been looking forward to coming to the shops again - we only closed for Christmas day," she said.
"We're opening 8 till 4 at Wodonga; we're going to really give it a go.
"We'd like to give it six months and see if any changes are needed to the standard hours.
"That will be the time for people to really get to know where we are."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Employee Tegan Hogan is managing the Wodonga store, after working at Yackandandah.
"The minute that we said we were opening in Wodonga, we were inundated with local resumes," Mrs Nedziak said.
"We are pretty much right [for staff], but we always encourage people to email us their resumes."