There’s not many people who have been in business for ten years or twenty, let alone more than 30. The Murrumbateman Butchery has been in operation for more than 30 years under husband and wife partnership Kim and Louise Parker.
Kim and Louise will be closing their doors for the final time on Friday 6:00pm. It will signal the end of a much loved Murrumbateman business which has become an institution of the tight-knit community and which has witnessed rapid growth over the last three decades. The achievement is even more amazing in that Kim and Louise have worked hand-in-hand and side-by-side since the early days. They raised their family alongside the butchery, which has provided top quality meat to the local community and surrounds.
Kim was working at Parliament House in Canberra as a trade assistant, before embarking on his butchery at Murrumbateman. He wasn’t that fond of working in Parliament and already was a qualified butcher with his own Lyneham business.
Kim said, “I drove past Murrumbateman shops one day and I saw they’ve started doing some renovations and building some more shops on the site. I said I’d be interested in leasing some of those shops, and put the butcher shop in there and went from there.”
Kim and Louise in their younger days and more recently at their Murrumbateman Butchery.
Kim needed more space than the little office to run his business and decided to take matters into his own hands, renting two and taking the wall down in the middle to create space. That was more than 30 years ago.
He said, “My first customer, I can remember. We were laying in bed the night before we opened. My wife and I and three little kids and she said, ‘do you think anyone will come in Kim?’ and I said, ‘f’d If I know.’ We go down on the Monday morning and there’s a chap staring at the door and his name was Charlie Upperson. I can still remember what he bought, a kilo of cutlets and a kilo of loin chops. Poor old Charlie’s passed away now, he’s been been gone a while but he was my first customer.”
“I’ve met numerous people and I’ve had such a good relationship with all my customers that have dealt with me. I was just talking to one now and I didn’t realise as we were leaving the shop, she said, ‘I remember when I walked into your butcher shop 24 years ago,’ and she said, ‘I forgot my purse.’ I said, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, what’s your name and we’ll just pop it down for next time.’ She said she’s never forgotten. Down the track their son Will was a clean up boy for me. That relationship just just went on. I’ve watched him grow.”
The relationships and stories forged by Kim and Louise during their time are endless. Every time one story ends, another is quick off the tongue of the retiring couple.
There was no rest for the wicked with Louise returning to work very soon after having children to make sure the business kept operating.
“She went for a doctor’s check up and she never came home. She rang up and she said, I’ve got to go to the hospital, I’m having this baby….No such thing as maternity leave or anything, when you work for yourself, but in saying that, I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. We’ve had beautiful customers. They’ve helped me raise my family.
“I’ve had offers to buy it over the years and I always knocked it back. The new owners, which are Pat, Mario and Luca Morando came up just before Christmas, last year. I was sitting outside having a cup of coffee. Mario walked past and I actually didn’t know Mario, but I knew his brother Pat. He said, we just sold a a shop in Canberra and I said, this will be for sale next year after Christmas.
“The best thing about selling this place is I opened it 31 years ago, and I’m still here 31 years later. It’s been a pleasure to run my business but we are tired.”
The shop has undergone a lot of change over the years it’s been operating, offering pies and pizzas to remain successful and agile in the landscape.
“We just put them in a warmer and here we are 28 years later, we still make pies and I get people coming from everywhere to buy pies and since they found out we’re closing, they’ve been ringing up and asking can I have a dozen pies.”
Although it would be hard to part with such a huge part of your life, Kim and Louise still want the townspeople to get around the new owners and show them the warmth Murrumbateman showed the previous shop.
“I work there. My wife works there. My two daughters work there and my grandson works there, but to try and find staff that you know are going to stick with you and be with you is very hard….It’s the end of an era for us, which is going to be a bit sad actually, for me, Louise, the children. I’ve got so much gratitude for the people that supported me all those years.
“At one time, I had a broken leg. I got kicked in the knee [by a horse] and it snapped every ligament in my leg and I had a total knee reconstruction. I was on crutches. At the same time I was on crutches, Louise got knocked over by a dog at home here and broke her shoulder. We were in the butcher shop, I was on crutches on one leg and Louise was there with a broken arm and broken shoulder. I had two arms, she had two legs. We still got it done.
“It was a tough one but I’ve got one fantastic wife, I really have. I haven’t been made a millionaire or anything, but the shop has been nice to me.
“If you have a business, you know what you got to put into it, it’s meant a lot to me that shop, but it’s time to kick on now.
You can purchase your copy of the Yass Valley Times weekly at any of our outlets, Murrumbateman Petrol Station, Murrumbateman Rural Supplies, Yass Newsagency, Yass IGA, Mobil, Ampol Comur St and Astron.
