The Langford Store, Bainham
The Langford Store, just 20 minutes from Collingwood up the Aorere Valley has the look of an old-timey film set. That’s not surprising as in earlier days Sukhita Langford — the third Langford to stand behind the counter — was a prop buyer and set dresser.
Once merely the area’s general store and post office, Sukhita has grown The Langford Store into the local grocer, sweet shop, tearooms, museum, and antique boutique. “I’ve always been into buying treasures,” she says. And most of her treasures are for sale, perhaps even the ones that aren’t. “If customers want something, it’s worth asking as I might say yes in a weak moment.”
That applies even to the antique bone china delivering one’s scone and cup of tea — and one simply must order a scone with cream and jam as they’re the best this side of Devonshire. Sukhita doesn’t claim credit for those, as her husband, Will Hutchison, is the one banging out the baking.
“He’s an absolute legend”, says Sukhita, adding that he’s the reason they could make such a go of the store after she took over from her aunt Lorna Langford in 2008. At that stage, Lorna had been running the store and adjoining post office for 60 years after taking the reins from her postmaster grandfather — Sukhita’s great-grandfather — in 1947.
Dunedin-born Sukhita had holidayed at the store with her family since a child, often helping her aunt with stock-taking. “Lorna would say to my mother, ‘I wish I could find someone to take the store on’, and one day my mother said, ‘What about Sukhita?’ I’d always had a daydream to live here, doing my art.”
Today, as well as still operating the post office, and running out teas and scones, cakes and coffees, Sukhita sews Kiwiana-themed hats and aprons and creates artworks, also for sale at the store. The Langford Store also happens to have what must be the country’s best long-drop toilet. It’s clean and sweet smelling, and if using a long-drop is a mystery there’s a convenient how-to guide.
When Sukhita’s great-grandfather built the store in 1928, it was the mainstay of then-busy Bainham. Now it’s mostly a tourist destination, or an ice cream stop before or after a dip at the nearby Sainsbury Falls, but Sukhita is as determined as her aunt Lorna was to keep the store going for the community and visitors alike. “I think people want the magic of sitting here. The world is so sped up these days, but not down here. Here, they can just sit and look at the mountains and the beautiful valley, and soak in the nostalgia.” langfordstore.co.nz