General News
19 October, 2023
Blast from the Past: Rob and Elaine Chandler
On the third Friday of every month, join long-time Maryborough and surrounds residents as they reflect on days and industry gone by in The Advertiser’s new profile series. Since he was a young boy selling newspapers, Rob Chandler had always wanted...
On the third Friday of every month, join long-time Maryborough and surrounds residents as they reflect on days and industry gone by in The Advertiser’s new profile series.
Since he was a young boy selling newspapers, Rob Chandler had always wanted a career based in Maryborough’s High Street.
He got his wish, with he and his wife Elaine going on to run five businesses in and around the town’s main street.
“It was always a yearning of mine, High Street, I never ever forgot High Street. I started selling papers in the street when I was 10 years old,” Rob said.
“I had a fascination I suppose [with High Street].
“Elaine was the same.”
When Rob finished his schooling, it was time to find a full-time job.
“I wanted to stay [in Maryborough],” he said.
“I ended up taking a job at the Ford garage. Eclipse Motors. I started at Eclipse Motors in 1963 in the spare parts.”
Rob went on to work for Wes Parsons, the local General Motors Holden dealer selling cars and continued there under Graham Jacka.
“After Jackas we had this yearning,” Rob said of he and Elaine.
“I wanted to get back to High Street and into our own business. And we started Chandler’s Deli.”
They started the coffee and sandwich shop in 1980, with Elaine the main cook.
“The first 12 months we struggled along with it,” Rob said.
“Starting a new business we didn’t have the money to be advertising. And getting people used to us sort of thing. But once they got used to us and what we had to offer it just grew.
“It was great… flat out. Of a Friday it was just bedlam. It was fantastic.”
After about three years they sold the business, which continued to operate for another 40 years under other owners as Chandler’s Deli and then as Maggie’s Coffee Lounge.
Rob, Elaine, and High Street were a good mix, and after some down time they bought a building of their own and opened a shoe shop at 154 High Street.
“It was probably our best business,” Rob said.
After five years they were ready for a break and closed the shop and rented out the building.
Their next adventure was starting the Terrace Coffee Corner, the coffee shop opposite the post office. Rob and Elaine worked hard to build it into a successful business before selling it two-and-a-half years later.
Again, Elaine was the main cook. She would often be up until 1am whipping up sponge cakes and slices.
“A woman came in one day and said to Elaine ‘I’ve come in to get a recipe for your sponge or whatever’. And Elaine replied by saying ‘you buy the business and you can have the recipe’,” Rob said.
The pair had another break after selling the Terrace Coffee Corner.
“By this time Elaine was getting sick of me selling the businesses. She was enjoying it [the business] so much,” Rob said.
They wound up back at 154 High Street — although they had since sold the building — running a health food shop. Elaine got a break from cooking this time, with the shop selling things like bulk honey and health supplements, rather than meals.
“We were there for nearly three years again and the same thing happened. A guy came along with a bag full of money and I didn’t like refusing it,” Rob explained.
Their last business in town was “like a $2 shop” in High Street, but it didn’t have the floorspace they needed to make a real go of it.
“We shut it down and that was the end of our era in High Street. It was great times,” Rob said.
“What we’ve noticed now of course the whole scenario has changed.
“Where you had all this retail... now it’s all the service industries.”
The High Street Rob and Elaine remember was filled with butchers, grocers, clothing stores and other retail shops. And they were all flat out all week, not just on Saturday mornings.
“I can remember us in the ‘80s in the deli. Elaine said ‘quick we’re out of tomatoes!’. And I’d tear out the front door and grab a bag full of tomatoes off Dennis (Fiorini). It was wall to wall people.”
While Rob and Elaine are both retired, Rob still thinks about Maryborough’s main street.
“I’d buy a shop in High Street tomorrow, that’s how I feel. I often think of it.”
