Nigel Cleary is a new small business owner on a mission. The owner of Nige’s Bric a Brac Shack at 311 Argent St, Mr Cleary sells collectibles and places items on consignment.
Born in Preston, Victoria, he moved to Moss Vale for 13 years, and then moved to Rockhampton in Queensland for 18 months.
He then spent 14 years in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, before moving to Cowra for five years.
“I’ve been around like a dough-nut,” said Mr Cleary who launched his then home-based business in Cowra due to continuing struggles with gaining meaningful employment.
“I started selling one or two items, and started doing my own auctions on Facebook,” Mr Cleary said.
Enjoying some success with selling those items, he decided to purchase additional items to build up his inventory, and his business venture was born.
He soon experimented with selling some of his stock at Cowra’s local markets, which seemed to work.
“The business was gradually being built up,” he said.
Plans for a shopfront in Cowra were scrapped when his mother fell ill and passed away six years ago.
Moves to Townsville, Moony Ponds in Victoria, and then White Cliffs, meant Mr Cleary could only sell his inventory online, eliminating any possible chance of setting up a permanent shopfront, though he did manage to operate a mini-shop while he was in White Cliffs for two and a half years.
But it was a final move to Broken Hill that gave Mr Cleary the opportunity to, “keep the business going because this was my mum’s dream for me”.
In November 2023, Mr Cleary thought “bugger it,” he says, and set upon his journey to open the permanent shopfront.
Sourcing an ABN, public liability insurance, and all of the additional required insurances, didn’t stop Mr Cleary from receiving the keys to the premises and moving his inventory to the shop.
“This is where it starts, this is where the shopfront story starts,” Mr Cleary says.
Reflecting on his first month in business, he noted the business “is still building up, I’m still getting there slowly but steadily”.
Business has been steady, and he is, “hoping for good growth in the next five months,” he added.
Nige’s Bric a Brac Shack can be contacted on 0491 013 944, and Mr Cleary is will welcome you to his dream shopfront, right in time for a busy tourist season.
