Back in business
TIME-TRAVELLING TV DOCO OFFERS UP THE NOSTALGIA OF CORNER STORES
Growing up on a farm outside the small South Australian town of Two Wells, Annabel Crabb couldn’t simply stroll to her local corner shop. She longed to be one of the kids in the township.
“Sometimes after school I would walk to the corner shop and get a bag of mixed lollies,” she says.
“It was like the greatest feeling of independence and such a thrill.”
For more than a century, the corner shop was an institution for millions of Australians. And the heart of a neighbourhood. In this third series of ABC’s Back In Time, Annabel Crabb is on hand to help Carol and Peter Ferrone and their children Julian, Sienna and Olivia navigate the highs and lows of being shopkeepers and go further back in time than they’ve ever been before, starting their adventure in the 1850s.
Special guests joined the family throughout the Back In Time For the Corner Shop’s five episodes. Many of the guests, including original purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt, John Doyle (aka Roy Slaven) and actor Lex Marinos have first-hand experience growing up in a familyrun store. Ita Buttrose, Linda Burney, Pam Burridge and Craig Foster all helped them understand societal shifts that have shaped our culture and lives.
It was filmed in a close-knit suburban community in Botany,
Sydney, on a site that was a corner shop for many years, until its closure in 2016. And, in another first, filming involved members of the public who were able to “shop” with the Ferrones through the eras.
“The really touching thing was the first shop we set up – which was typical of the 1850s, wooden panelled and lots of baskets out the front – the number of locals who came flocking and thought that it was a new organic grocery or little artisanal bakery or something … They were heartbroken when they found out it was actually a film set,” Crabb says.
“It was such a regular occurrence over the six weeks we were filming that people would just stick their head in and were just so excited that the corner shop was back in business.”
Carole Ferrone says that was one of her favourite parts of her third turn going back in time. She says the family made lifelong friends on the open set this season
“We really became an integral part of the Bondi community – they really embraced us and the locals became our customers,” she says.
“They would come in even when they weren’t shopping – in inverted commas – they’d pop in for a chat. They’d walk by hoping to see one of us out the front. And we actually really did become the centre of this little community for three months.
“As the shop evolved and the facades changed, people would stop by and say ‘please stay, if you open a business we will really support it’. It was actually quite surprising and it made me realise we really miss this today.”
While that was a joy, the layers upon layers of clothing the Ferrone ladies had to wear initially were not. But Carole was glad that costuming, as always, kept it authentic.
“A lot of people think the set, the wardrobe, it’s just a vision,” she says.
“It really isn’t, even with the boys, our underwear is authentic to the period.
“Even when we get to the ’50s and ’60s, our bras I was wearing were pointy, original 1950s and, look, those things they enter the room before you do.
“And I would say to the head of wardrobe, ‘Do we have to? No one’s going to know’ and she said ‘someone will notice and they’ll write in about it’.
“The detail is phenomenal, but those layers are very hot.”
Crabb and Ferrone both feel sad that these once vital cornerstones of society have been relegated largely to history.
“We’ve created an economy where they are no longer viable,” Crabb says.
“It’s quite a big loss for all of us – this relentless pursuit of convenience. I mean, you can get a box of paperclips delivered to your door without even getting up, or putting your pants on.
What is the broader cost of that in terms of community? It’s worth reflecting on how best to replace that.”
However, Crabb says the rise of the farmers’ market is a heartening sign of the times.
“People will go and make an effort to buy their vegies – and it’s not cheaper, in fact you usually pay a bit more, but the fact you go every week and you see your friends and your neighbours. It’s a chance to get together.
“Me and my kids have always gone to our local markets on the weekend. It’s partly for the food, but also because you get to see everybody you know from your area.
“It’s also often struck me – although I’m not a churchgoer, I was in my youth – that it fulfils a really comparable role to going to church at the weekends in my country town.
“You know, because you see people and you’re not there for a religious reason, but you’re actually giving in to the human need to be together doing the same thing. Just hanging out.”