Nine years ago construction worker Anthony Reale had a dream; he wanted to be his own boss, he wanted to run his own cafe.
Most dreams never come true, most small businesses fail within the first year.
But when it opened its doors some seven years ago, Shellharbour’s Village Fix was an instant success.
“From the beginning we wanted to develop this place into a social club where friends meet old friends and make new ones,” says Reale. “We have developed ourselves into a part of people’s days.”
Back seven years ago Shellharbour, twenty minutes south of Wollongong, was a lost-in-time surfing village where teenagers still gathered in their cars on the headlands because there was nowhere else to go, as if out of a 1950s movie; and for older and perhaps more discerning residents finding a decent cup of coffee was nigh on impossible.
Now there are cafes and eateries lining the main street leading down the harbour, and Shellharbour Village has become a destination in and of itself.
All those new businesses lining the main street owe a debt of gratitude to Village Fix for leading the way in turning this once undistinguished suburb into a cafe precinct.
Over the same period the area has undergone a dramatic demographic transformation from its working class origins, fuelled by the flight from an increasingly unliveable Sydney and in more recent times the opening of the new marina in neighbouring Shellcove.
Audies, BMWs and Range Rovers, are regularly seen, while property prices have soared.
Building on its original success, Village Fix is now moving from its small shop front next to Subway into larger and more open quarters adjoining the car park behind IGA.
“I always thought that it would work,” says Reale. “I am a local. I knew a lot of people who would definitely come and support me.
“We jumped in the deep end, not really understanding the tax, policies, legislation, accounting. It is very difficult.
“The tax system is structured for big companies. The small ones suffer. Tax on tax on tax. They definitely don’t want small businesses to survive.
“All we did for the last few years was constantly reinvent ourselves. Seeing what the customer liked and didn’t like. Reinvesting in the business. Now we are reinventing ourselves again.”
It is no secret that the last two and a half years have been extremely difficult for many people, no more so than for small businesses.
Through sheer persistence and determination Village Fix, unlike so many other businesses across the country, survived a blizzard of constantly changing government diktats, regulation and for those who dared to doubt the government’s messaging, controversy.
“This is a positive change after two years of inconsistencies, of plateauing through Covid,” says Anthony Reale. “This is a revamp, a reinvention. It was two years of going against what we planned our cafe to be; from having a social, community feel, it turned into a robotic isolation.
“Nobody spoke to each other. Nobody interacted. It changed the feel of a cafe from being a way of life, a part of people’s day.
“We kept the door’s open, but we lost that connectivity.
“Nobody hung around, nobody had future dreams, positive plans. It turned into a terrible time.
“People stood there waiting for their take away coffees, socially distancing, staring straight ahead. Everyone was in fear of the police. It was a fear of the fines, not the virus.
“This move is a break from that past, a return to a more normal feel.”
It is also a return to the original aims of the cafe, which had been an instant success through a simple but winning formula: excellent coffee and friendly service. Unlike many “too cool for school” cafes, the staff remember people’s names and their favourite coffee.
Village Fix also opens earlier than any other cafe in the area, attracting an eclectic but convivial mix of tradies and steel workers to business people and high powered property developers, from those just getting by to multi-millionaires. Later in the morning that mix is replaced by tourists, retirees walking their dogs, mothers grabbing a coffee after dropping their kids off at nearby schools, all sorts.
Once again Reale is determined to do things on his own terms.
Village Fix is a social habitat.
“I don’t see this as work,” Reale says. “I enjoy what I do, socialising, connecting, making coffee, finding friendship. It’s exciting to create a new vibe. Community. That is me. It is not a deliberate business strategy.
“I never worry about competition.To this day, I never check the other cafes. As soon as you do, it means you have lost touch with your own business.
“I try to do different things and concentrate on what I am doing, and doing it the best I can. That should be good enough for anyone.
“My wife did a lot of the legwork when we first opened; and back then it felt like the universe was talking to us, telling us this was the right thing to do. Now it feels like the universe is talking to us again, telling us to put our best foot forward, to be positive, courageous, and determined. To work hard and be happy within ourselves.
“Onwards and upwards!!”
And in this case, into the carpark at the rear of Shellharbour’s IGA.
See you there!!