July 5, 2023

Meet the collectors behind Howard Street’s Bad Habit record store

Phil Dalton and Aaron Borg at the Bad Habit store where music, vintage toys, skateboarding and vinyl records collide. By Janine Hill MATES Phil Dalton and Aaron Borg share a bad habit: collecting stuff.  For Phil, that means vintage toys, skateboards and movies while Aaron’s stuff is music, namely records. They share their afflictions with the rest of the community through Bad Habit record and collectables store, which recently relocated from Blackall Terrace to the Old Ambulance Station in Howard Street. At Blackall Terrace, Phil and Aaron organised live music gigs in conjunction with neighbouring café, The Village Pickle. They continue to organise live music at The Old Ambo, a key multi-media venue within the Nambour entertainment precinct.  “There’s a certain synergy there,” Phil said. The men do not pitch a particular music style. A punk outfit and gospel singer are booked to play on the same card soon. Phil said the place was developing as a niche for metal bands who often could not get a go on the coastal strip. “English band Rat Cage played here and said it was the best show they’d ever done.” “I just think Nambour crowds are pretty enthusiastic. That type of music […]

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Mums bring delicious delights, welcome vibes to new café

Brooke Humphreys and Tara Sutcliffe have set up a relaxed haven for Nambour food lovers. Business Writeup by Janine Hill TWO mums with a shared background in hospitality have combined heads, hands and hearts to open a new café in Nambour. Brooke Humphreys and Tara Sutcliffe opened Muffin Whole opposite Quota Park three months ago with a vision to provide tasty food in a welcoming, relaxed space. “We both worked in hospitality in our teenage years and wanted to create a really nice atmosphere for everyone, especially mums, to come and get some yummy cakes and feel really comfortable relaxing with the kids,” Tara said. “It’s not a gentrified café. If there’s a level of pretentiousness in the air, you can’t really relax. Easy going venue next to park  “We’re pretty easy-going here and the park is opposite. It’s a laidback space and we think people have responded to it really nicely.” Tara, a chef by trade, takes pride in the quality of food on offer. “We make everything from scratch – the bread, the pickles, the cakes. A friend brings in beautiful home-grown vegies from her garden and we get other produce from the markets,” she said. The two

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Threatened and intimidated: Town Square struggles with ongoing safety concerns

The troubled Town Square area bordered by Short and Lowe Streets in the CBD. Comment by Cameron Outridge, Editor Once again, it is time to address the safety concerns in the Nambour CBD town square area. The issues plaguing businesses around Lowe and Short Streets have left owners, staff and customers feeling threatened, intimidated, and – worst of all – dismissed, resulting in considerable mental and financial strain. In our interviews with numerous business owners in the town square over 12 months the psychological stress they face is palpable. Though their numbers may be relatively small, the concerns raised by these businesspeople are genuine, persistent, ongoing, and remain unanswered. This time, Member for Maroochydore, Fiona Simpson, who grew up around Nambour, has brought attention to the matter. She has been joined by Tristan Brown, Director of RE/MAX Nambour, who is speaking up on behalf of other concerned businesspeople, staff, and customers. Mr Brown emphasizes the lack of substantive acknowledgement or effective response from the relevant authorities. Despite their valid safety concerns, his business, staff, and customers are expected to endure without any practical resolution on the horizon. Many businesses we spoke to are afraid to voice their concerns publicly, fearing

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Businesspeople fear for their safety around Town Square: MP

Maroochydore MP Fiona Simpson visits the Town Square with RE/MAX Nambour Director Tristan Brown. Nambour businesses, staff and customers fear for their safety because of frequent public drug-taking and violent and anti-social behaviour in the Town Square, according to Shadow Minister for Finance and Better Regulation, Fiona Simpson. The Maroochydore MP said crime in the Short Street-Lowe Street vicinity was “out of control” and it was time for action. She said Nicklin MP Rob Skelton was missing in action on fixing the issues. “There has to be an appropriate and timely response to these issues, to deal with these issues, or else it’s going to get worse,” she said.  “Why is the community giving up … Police (boots on the ground) numbers are down and the government keeps fudging the numbers to hide the truth,” she said. Ms Simpson said some crime rates in Nambour in the last twelve months had risen: • Unlawful use of a motor vehicle up 40% • Unlawful entry up 32% • Other theft up 43%. She said assault was reportedly down 13 percent but “this is because the community has given up reporting what is going on in the streets”. “The Full Time Employee

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‘Incredible frustration’: agent weighs cost of safety concerns on staff, future in town

by Cameron Outridge Business owners and staff around Nambour’s Town Square are expressing their deep frustration over the continued lack of substantial acknowledgement of safety concerns plaguing the area.  Despite ongoing issues related to unruly behaviour, violence, and drug and alcohol-induced incidents, RE/MAX Nambour Principal Tristan Brown said there has been a lack of effective response from authorities.  Mr Brown said, with no signs of improvement or a clear plan of action from the State Government or Council, the relatively small CBD business community was left feeling unheard and concerned for the safety of their staff and customers.  Mr Brown said business owners around the Town Square on the corner of Lowe and Short Streets were “incredibly frustrated” that there was a general lack of substantial acceptance of their continued safety concerns. “There’s this lack of acknowledgement that there is even a genuine problem,” he said. “The responses from the relevant people who have a responsibility to the community are responses focused on justification, or on debating that there even is an issue. “And then they try to hide behind figures that we all know are not representative of what’s happening on the ground, in and around the square. From

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Blooms, scary vegetables and expert advice this weekend at Garden Expo

Event manager Marion Beazley in the pavilion at Nambour Showgrounds on Friday… Gardening trends come and go but the Expo is a mainstay. “We are the biggest gardening event in Queensland.” by Janine Hill DYED-in-the-compost gardeners are counting down the sleeps until the Queensland Garden Expo. The three-day gardening extravaganza, the highlight of the green thumb’s year, will be held at the Nambour Showgrounds from this Friday, 7 July, until Sunday 9 July.  Event manager Marion Beazley said gardeners who had come to know and love the expo program could expect a return of everything that had made the expo a popular annual event for decades. The speakers program is an integral part of the expo and some people travelled great distances to plant themselves in front the likes of Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis, above, Jerry Coleby-Williams and Sophie Thompson, below. “We don’t feel like we’ve got to reinvent the wheel every year for this kind of event,” Marion said.  “Having 55 nurseries in one place is enough for a lot of people. It would be difficult to find that many nurseries and that number of plants in any one place at any one time. “We are the biggest gardening

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Bellissimo! Discover the flavours of Italy at Nambour’s new Maiori Pizzeria

Maiori Pizzeria in Bury Street is owned by Sarah and Antonia Masella … “It was always our dream to open our own pizzeria”. Business Writeup by Janine Hill A PIZZERIA tucked away in a Nambour side street is fast becoming known for its genuine Italian pizzas. Maiori Pizzeria in Bury Street is owned by Sarah and Antonia Masella, who are both originally from Sardinia and worked in hospitality there and in Germany before moving to Australia six years ago. “We came here on holidays and we fell in love with Australia – the lifestyle and the weather. The people are friendly, happy,” Sarah said. They spent eight months in Sydney before moving to the Sunshine Coast and worked at other pizza businesses before they saw an opportunity to open their own in Nambour. “It was always our dream to open our own pizzeria. My husband wanted to be able to do what he wanted to do his way,” Sarah said. “One day we were driving through Nambour and saw this shop. My husband likes it because the customers can look down and see the pizzas being made,” she said. Maiori Pizzeria pizzas are made the Italian way. Everything is made

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