July 15, 2021
Blackbutt’s latest shop opened its doors on Monday next to the town’s historic Hotel Radnor.
The Blackbutt Bottlemart was developed by Radnor operator Brett Jones.
Brett took over the licence of the 112-year old hotel halfway through last year and promptly set about updating the property.
His work included revamping the hotel’s food offerings, expanding its beer garden, and introducing a program of regular weekly entertainment nights for patrons covering everything from trivia to quizzes and poker tournaments.
Brett said part of his plan for the property was to add a modern bottle shop, and an adjoining building on Coulson Street proved to be the ideal location.
“We planned to do it for awhile,” Brett said.
“The building we went for was once used as an art gallery and later as a chiropractor’s studio.
“This meant the layout was all wrong, and we had to knock down some walls and storerooms so we could install a modern fridge and cold room.”
All up, Brett said construction took about six weeks to complete, which turned out to be much less time than the concept had spent on the drawing board.
But the new shop has benefitted from all that extra thinking and planning time.
It is also the first modern, new business to open on Coulson Street since the SPAR Supermarket began operations in 2018.
It was officially opened on Monday afternoon with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Cr Gavin Jones.
Brett said he was very pleased to bring the bottle shop to Blackbutt.
“This is a great little town,” he said.
“It’s always busy, there’s always something going on and there are some really good shops here.”
The new bottle shop stocks a large range of wines, craft beers “from all over Australia” and spirits.
It is open from 10:00am to 5:00pm on Sundays, 10:00am to 7:00pm Mondays to Thursdays and 10:00am to 8:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
[Photos: Tina Torrens, Torkit Business Solutions]
