Success smells sweet

The days of owning a bricks and mortar shop front are fading with businesses opting to operate online or in a pop-up fashion.

The accessibility and reach of the internet appears to be swaying business owners and operators to predominantly trade online.

A pop-up culture, where businesses set up in a temporary location for a short time, appears to also be emerging in the Riverina.

Owner of My Floral Styling, Amanda Bahr, said a pop-up business was her best option.

Mrs Bahr trained as a florist in England and brought the skill back to Wagga.

She worked at Scooter Flowers before she moved to Henty.

“I always had a bit of a creative flair,” she said.

“But then I married a farmer and had kids and I had to put a lid on the creative for a while.”

Mrs Bahr noticed a market for a florist and developed a business module that suited her lifestyle around May this year.

She purchased a 10-foot long 1974 York van and transformed it into a mobile florist, regularly parking on the side of the road in Henty, Culcairn and Holbrook.

“A bricks and mortar business is too expensive to run,” she said.

“I needed a central point where people could come to me.

“I could not outlay the money for a shop front whereas with this, I can tow it where I need to be.

“It’s very trendy at the moment, to bring these vans to life.”

Director of the RGTC Group, Dianna Somerville, said emerging businesses are becoming more diverse.

Small business owners, especially mothers, are creating businesses that work around their lifestyle.

“With people that have children, you have to find a way to work around that new dynamic,” Mrs Somerville said.

The internet has changed the way people engage with each other and Mrs Somerville said it is social proof of how successful a business is.

“It’s the way a lot of people engage now,” she said.

Mrs Somerville said the increasingly popular pop-up culture is an efficient way to temporarily fill some empty shop fronts in Wagga’s main street.