The prominent building that housed Wodonga Travel and Cruise for decades has been transformed into a gift and clothing store in a matter of weeks.
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Pour Mes Amis, relaunched as Hello Darling, has moved in at 86 High Street, facing the South Street intersection.
It means Nadine Trist has come full circle with her popular business.
"We had a store further down on High Street, where we started about 10 years ago," she said.
"We were there for four years, and there was a gap after that as we tried to find the right spot.
"It's nice to be back."
Wodonga lawyer John Potter put the building up for lease after closing Wodonga Travel and Cruise last year, and it was taken up within weeks by Ms Trist, who has rented 2 South Street near the Wodonga Brass Brand building for three years.
"The tenancy was up down the road, so I rang Mr Porter, he met me half an hour later and I walked in and said 'yes'," she said.
"I loved the space from the beginning - the windows are amazing and it's such a beautiful old building.
"Mr Potter has a photo from 1890 of the building, and he's been so helpful.
"It was all very quick; we took down a few walls and moved everything from the old store.
"We're not entirely sure what we'll do with upstairs - we might do a gallery.
"It will have a new lease on life."
Ms Trist will be re-naming all four of her stores to Hello Darling after a decade with the name Pour Mes Amis, which came to Albury after a period that included road reconstructions on High Street.
"I moved over to Albury maybe seven years ago, to Volt Lane," she said.
"It took us a while to find the space (at 2 South Street).
"Then Myer Centrepoint approached us to take up a tenancy there after having a pop up."
Ms Trist launched her first store beyond the Border last year.
"We opened the first Beechworth store right in the middle of the pandemic, but we outgrew that very quickly and we've taken over a bigger space there on Ford Street," she said.
"We've always done a little bit of online, but we had a lot of support from locals last year online and that definitely kept us busy - we put a big focus into it.
"We were closed for maybe six weeks or so, but we used that time to renovate.
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"The border issues were probably the hardest for us last year with staff, and having different rules on either side, but I've got amazing staff and everybody worked together really well."
Hello Darling, formerly Pour Mes Amis at 86 High Street, Wodonga will open 9am-5pm during the week and 9am-1pm on Saturdays.
