By BRIDGET SCOTT
AN 18-year-old craft store in Pakenham and the only one of its kind will shut down at the end of the month, with a list of loyal customers sad to say goodbye.
The owner of Pakenham’s Moo Moo’s will shut the door at the end of June in what will be the end of an era, but the beginning of a new chapter for Vicki Gourley.
Personal reasons have forced the local resident to shut up shop, and she will be sad to say goodbye to the store which she and her late husband owned for the past seven and a half years.
Vicki said she could remember when the store first went up for sale and how much she wanted to buy it.
“I wanted to buy it the first time, but we weren’t in a position to, but the second time we did it,” she said.
A customer from day one, the craftswoman was thrilled to take over the shop. The business lived and breathed Pakenham, and Vicki said they were conscious to make sure they always sourced locally.
“We had three different makers, and they were all from the area,” she said.
The iconic business was well-known for its handmade arts and crafts, woodwork and gifts.
With a true country feel to the store, Vicki said it would be sad to leave behind this “one of a kind” shop.
“It’s a real original and one of its own,” she said.
Kim and Neil Busacca started the gift shop back in 1996 and named it after their pet cow, after which Neville and Jean Orre took it over.
The shop has never looked emptier, after Vicki saw many familiar faces pop in last weekend to get what they could before their favourite store closed down.
The owner said she planned to have a garage sale at the end of the month if she still had stock to get rid of.
She even parted with a few of her personal belongings over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, when people came in to purchase things she didn’t have in the shop, but which she had in her own home.
The sadness will be twofold at the end of the month, and Vicki wanted to thank her loyal customer base for their friendship over the past seven and a half years.
“The same people have come in since day one,” she said.
“There is a really loyal customer base – this is so sad for a lot of people.”
“It’s an institution.”
