Post Office pair earns a stamp of approval
A SERENDIPITOUS series of events has led a former Gold Coast family to take over Edge Hill’s Pease St post office.
Jen and Chris Chastre set off from Currumbin in December 2016 with their two children, two dogs and an off-road caravan to travel around Australia.
After trekking through four states, the family arrived in Palm Cove in June last year and did not “feel the need to budge for at least two weeks”.
At the end of the stay at the beachside suburb’s caravan park, Mr and Mrs Chastre rented a home in Edge Hill, enrolled the children in the local primary school and proceeded to check out the new area.
By September, the decision was made to stay in Cairns and after deciding on buying a business, Mr Chastre made an offer on the Edge Hill Post Office, previously owned by Bob Kovchenko.
In 2013 the post office moved 1.5km south down Pease St to its present location in Piccone’s Shopping Village.
Mrs Chastre said the past month had been a whirlwind of learning the ropes of running an Australia Post outlet and continuing to settle in.
“When we decided to purchase the Edge Hill Post Office, we had very little knowledge of post offices but having owned corporate businesses in the past on the Gold Coast we knew what we didn’t want when we looked at business models,” she said.
“Long hours of sitting at a computer responding to emails and answering phone calls was not part of the business plan.
“We wanted a business that would proactively serve the local community and offer a fresh approach to an already established business model.
“We have found a community that really welcomes new people to the area. Our kids are friends with other kids whose parents are also business owners in Edge Hill.
“We are lucky to be able to walk or ride our bikes down the road to support local small business and we look forward to being part of a community that supports each other.”
Mrs Chastre said she believed a post office was a place to spend time chatting to someone you had not seen for ages in air-conditioned comfort and where you did not need to rush.
“In a world where emailing has taken over as the preferred method of communication, we know that receiving or sending a gift or handwritten card in the post has true meaning,” she said. “It’s our job to keep those little treasures of communication alive and well. And nothing speaks more strongly than a friendly, helpful face on the other side of the counter.”