Owner of Little Polli and the Blackbird, Sharon Poles has experienced some dark times over the last few months.

As she and her family were cleaning and getting the Magellan Street shop ready to reopen, it was a job that seemed endless.

“Our business was quite damaged in the flood and we’ve had a staged opening as we fixed the building up,” Sharon said.

Now, the shop is open on Carrington Street (in a former antiques shop, opposite Cafe Capello).

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It’s the quirky shop’s second stage of reopening – following it’s pop up shop at Lismore Heights Bowling Club.

As with all shop buildings, it’s been an evolution, but for Sharon, there was never any question on not reopening.

“We purchased this building in the beginning of February and have a mortgage on it so we had to come back,” she said.

“We lost stock but were fortunate enough to have saved a lot of stock too.

“In some of the dark timee recently when I have been here scraping paint off the walls, I’ve thought I just wanted to give up and run away.

“But then opening a pop up shop reminded me this is what I love to do, so I’m glad to be back.”

Mammoth task

Getting busy electricians, glaziers and flooring fitters booked in to do the work has been a mammoth task.

It’s a labour of love that’s seen constant changes in what Sharon originally wanted to make the shop flood proof – to what she could have.

“The government hasn’t given any grant money to commercial landlords,” she said.

“I wanted polished floors, but had to change to epoxy,” she said. “It’s been based on what materials were available and affordable - and what tradies were able to to the job.

“We fitted the shop roof where we are now with filler board we thought might withstand flood, but can’t afford it for the bigger front shop.

“We are now using pine lining boards there – but it won’t withstand flood.

The flood

“We saved stock because we started planning on Saturday morning before the flood.

“We don’t have a mezzanine so we secured a secured a second floor in a building close by which managed to be flood free.

“We moved clothing, handbags, cushions, leather to mum and dad’s house.

“Mum did about eight trips getting all the clothes out.

“We had the shop ceiling and the ceiling cavity from 12.5 metres up stacked with boxed of stock – but we lost them all. It went a metre into the cavity.

The future

“We are hoping to have the original shop open for the beginning of August, but it depends on what happens with the glass.

“We are plodding along and looking forward to getting back in there.

“Now we get ready to move into our original premises.”

If you pop into the shop on Carrington Street, you can buy some of Sharon’s eclectic stock of ceramic wear, clothes and accessories.

It’s just a start, but it’s evolving.