Old fashioned corner store owners look to sell beloved cafe

Sadly, for some Wodonga residents, one refuge is disappearing as the friendly faces at a De Kerilleau Drive staple will soon greet their customers no more.

After seven years in business, Gables Cafe owners Andrew Slorach and Danielle Maclean have announced they are selling their family business.

"We've had disasters, we've had good times, and we've built a great family life out of all of it," Mr Slorach said.

"But above everything, it'll be the customers that we miss the most."

While working as a chef at the former Casa Bella Cafe Restaurant on Dean Street, where Downtown Pizzeria now stands, Mr Slorach and his partner dreamed of opening a business of their own.

"We had this thing that we wanted to recreate the corner store again," he said.

"We found this place and we wanted to put our own flavour on the shop.

"After about the fourth week, I've gone, holy sh-t, what have we got ourselves into? Working seven days a week from morning to night because we had to, with our three kids running around in the background.

"It probably took about 12 months for people to start realising that there was new blood in the shop, and we kept going from there. It was very, very successful."

Over time, Mr Slorach said he developed a relationship with his customers "that you rarely see now-a-days".

"Over half our customers, we know where they live and we know them by name," he said.

"For a lot of older people, sometimes we might be the only people they see all day.

"We believe that we're a pillar for people. But we know that, sadly, these shops are starting to die."

Ms Maclean said she noticed how important their shop was to the community during the COVID lockdowns.

"Because we were an essential service, we were able to be open the whole time," she said.

"Especially for some of the older customers, we'd be the only people that they had seen all week because they couldn't have visitors and they couldn't go anywhere.

"We were a bit of a lifeline for people. We arranged to drop off milk, bread and papers or take food to them. It really opened our eyes to how much we were needed."

Moving forward, the couple plans to focus on their other passion - wood-fired pizzas.

They started operating Dandy's Mobile Wood Fired Pizzas during COVID but said it fell by the wayside as they were too busy with Gables Cafe.

The name Dandy comes from combining Danielle and Andrew, a name they have also given to their signature southern fried chicken at Gables Cafe.

The pizza business operates out of a food truck with a wood-fired pizza oven installed inside. The couple has catered for charity events and fundraisers on the Border, including Rachel Anderson's Stars of the Border fundraiser in April 2024.

"With Gables Cafe, we've built it up to exactly what we thought in our heads when we bought it. We've achieved our goal," Ms Maclean said.

"But, it's time to move on and open another chapter in our lives.

"We've enjoyed the ride - it has been a life changing experience for us."

Gables Cafe is currently in the process of being sold and is on the market.