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Like many people, Claire Sly’s fondest childhood memories are at her nanna’s house. She spent weekends with her grandparents, and her nanna always encouraged her to set up a ‘shop’ in the pantry to keep out of mischief.
Her nanna would patiently wander around the living room, basket in hand, collecting her weekly 'shopping' from Claire and paying with Monopoly money, coins and homemade credit cards. She said that one day she hoped to see Claire in her very own, real life shop, and this childhood ritual became a lifelong dream.
After a move to the South West town of Nannup in 2021, Claire and her husband Tim knew it was finally the right time to bring that dream to fruition and start their own small business.
In 2023, they opened Nanna’s Pantry, a bulk food store and café, in her nanna’s honour.
Stocked up with SBDC advice
When starting her small business, Claire paid a visit to the local Community Resource Centre, where she found plenty of useful information, courtesy of the Nannup Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Among that information was the contact details for SBDC Regional. She phoned them up and met with a business adviser over a coffee to discuss the business.
“My husband and I are accountants, so we have a fair understanding of the business world, but we've never run our own business before,” Claire explained.
“It's just an amazing service having a small business adviser spend time with you. Having the opportunity to be able to speak to somebody about things like cash flow, timings of payments, creditors, debtors and how to gently build a business was really helpful - you’d be surprised at how much you gain from it.”
Claire says that the help she got from the SBDC built her confidence in herself and her business and helped her know she was on the right track.
Keeping it local
Early on, Claire and Tim knew they wanted to source most of their stock from local suppliers.
“We have a great belief in regional towns, supporting our local businesses, reducing freight costs and reducing running costs,” Claire emphasised.
“I think if you know where your food comes from, you have more of a connection with your food.”
They invested time into building relationships with the different people that provide them with their good, and there are now more 30 local businesses now stocking their products in Nanna’s Pantry.
“All the businesses in town are seeing an increase in people shopping locally as we build our product lists.”
People will shop here, they will then their fuel up here and buy their newspaper here and then pop down the road for groceries instead of travelling to the next town to go to one of the big supermarkets.”
Nanna knows best
One of the things Claire is most proud of is how her small business has breathed life back into one of the oldest buildings in the town, the century old former Headmasters’ House.
“We've renovated it and it is now a hub for a lot of people who come through, either travelling from one town to another in the South West, or just as a gathering place for locals,” Claire said.
Having worked on the business solidly for two years, Claire admits that the long hours have taken a strain on them. They’ve now employed some staff and look forward to managing their time while taking care of themselves and the business.
With the business growing faster than anticipated and plenty of local businesses being supported by Nanna’s Pantry, it’s safe to say that Claire is making her nanna proud.
“We just hope people enjoy Nanna’s Pantry as much as she did,” Claire said.
More information
- Learn how to start and grow your own small business
- Read about how to choose suppliers for your small business
- Access business advisory services in regional WA and the Perth metro area
- Read more WA small business stories
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