Birney’s — a Springwood retail fashion institution that’s been trading for more than 60 years — is in great hands for the future under new and energetic local ownership.
Last month Ross Birney sold it to employee and Winmalee resident Sarah Warrick, who said she couldn’t be prouder to take over the reins of such a much-loved shop.
“I’ve been working here for three years, I’ve lived in the area for a long time and I can remember my mum used to take me to Birney’s sometimes as a treat when I was growing up,” Ms Warrick, who is just short of her 20th birthday, said.
“So knowing its history and place within the community, it makes me very happy to own Birney’s.
“I’m so proud of the business and I love the community — that’s the main thing for me, having a place in the community.
“If anything it makes me feel more confident about running a business at quite a young age.
“I love what I’m doing.”
Ms Warrick said the key to Birney’s success has been its ability to change with the times and its friendly and helpful customer service.
“I think it has been very adaptable and has evolved a lot over time.
“It changed from being a general fashion store for men and women to a menswear-only shop selling surf fashion and businesswear, and for the last 18 months it’s been a women’s fashion shop.
“It will continue to specialise in women’s fashion, which is great for me.
“We’ve got lots of styles for women of different age groups and sizes are six to 14 for general lines and some going up to size 16.
“It’s funny, nowadays almost anything, any style, is ‘in’ and what’s particularly nice is there is lots of colour and in particular lots of print designs around at this time of year.
“We are also selling a lot of maxi-dresses, which are always in demand.”
Ms Warrick said she wasn’t going to change things much at Birney’s but she would be hosting a Christmas shopping night on Thursday, December 12 from 6pm.
“It will be a bit of a flash sale and a Christmas party, with 25 per cent off items and food and drinks served to customers.
“We’ve never done a pre-Christmas sale before but I thought we’d try it out and make it a fun evening.
“We will then probably do a post-Christmas sale.”
Ms Warrick said Mr Birney “was the best person to work for and he’s still helping me out now during the week with buying products to stock and giving me helpful advice.
“It’s awesome to have that extra bit of support.”
Birney’s is open 9am to 5.30pm four weekdays per week, 9am to 7pm on Thursdays (but open until later this Thursday for the Christmas party sale) and 9am to 4pm on weekends.
Birney’s is located at 214 Macquarie Road, Springwood and can be contacted on 4751-5348.
