Gladstone business for sale: the McNaughts sell up shop after over 17 years

The couple have been running the beloved local business since 2007.

But after nearly two decades in business, the couple have decided to sell their business with the lease continuing until 2033.

"We've both reached retirement age," Mr McNaught said.

"We want to just go and have a bit of fun before we get too old."

Mr McNaught had been a manager for a Newcastle scaffold company prior to moving to the Macleay Valley.

His interest in the business first began when he was having coffee at a cafe across from the Gladstone General Store with the business's then owner.

"[I was in] the building industry and I just had enough of it," Mr McNaught said.

"I said off the cuff 'well if you decide to sell it, let me know' and about 12 months later he said 'yep'.

"So we sold up down there and moved up here."

Under the McNaught's care the business has grown with the couple adding a successful takeaway food component to the business.

It's not uncommon to see the store's car park full of tradies stopping for lunch, families stopping by for a late night feed or tourists picking up a bite to eat on their way to the coast.

"We just made the business our own," Mr McNaught said.

"We always tried stuff- if it worked, it stayed, If it didn't work, it goes.

"If you don't try stuff, you'll never know."

The business has also been the site of several lottery tickets wins with a local woman winning $20 million Powerball jackpot in April this year.

"We've sold about five or six major [wins]," Mr McNaught said

"Which is quite a number because we're only small."

Local real estate agent Kelly Flanagan has put her hand up to sell the business with the price currently set at $340,000.

The sale includes the news agency, NSW Lotteries licence, all the take-away equipment and stock-on as well as a five bedroom residence and VW caddy seven seater van.

"It's a virtually a walk-in, walk-out," Ms Flanagan said.

"The price is the stock and the machinery.

Whoever gets to buy the business can live in the residence as well- it's part of the lease."

As a regular customer herself, Ms Flanagan said the business offers a regular stream of tourists travelling to coast as well as local customers

"The main part of it too is you're part of a community," Ms Flanagan said.

"It is a village and that is the general store.

"You've got a ready-set clientele."

The NSW Lotteries licence also guarantees a regular stream of customers with the Gladstone General Store the only licensed store between Kempsey and South West Rocks.

But Ms Flanagan said that there was room to move and change for the new owners.

"They can run it how they see fit," she said.

"I personally would hate to see anyone change the recipe to the beef burger."

Mr McNaught said his hopes for the new owners was for them to make it their own like he and his wife did.

"We've completed turned the shop around since we came here," he said.

"They'll assess what works for them, what they want to do."

As the couple prepares for their well earned retirement, Mr McNaught said what he would miss most about the business was the customers.

"The customer loyalty here is just magnificent," he said.

"We still have people coming in from when we first came here.

"It's wonderful."

it's quite successful the way it is now. It's just technology is just... the news agency sign is shrinking... that's why you've got to try different things."

You can contact Kelly Flanagan Real Estate for inquiries in the sale of Gladstone General Store.