Melrose Uralla owner Sonia Repin shutting up shop, Pie Mechanic, New England Brewing co, Highland Living record successful holiday period

It will be the last peak period that Melrose Uralla owner Sonia Repin will be trading in the store she has operated for eight years.

Ms Repin has sold the business to relocate to Toowoomba, where she'll renovate a cottage and potentially start another business.

"I am sad to be leaving Uralla, I think it's going to continue to grow," she said.

"It's going to continue to attract a lot of visitors and buyers because its got so many lovely stores now, and cafes.

"I'm leaving an area that's still got a lot of boom left in it."

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There were only three shops trading on Sundays when she first opened, she recalls, now they're all open, and weekends are one of the busiest times for the town.

She is leaving on the tail of another good holiday season. The holidays are "great" for business in Uralla, she said.

"It was down on previous years, which I would say was a result of petrol prices and interest rates being high. There seemed to be a lot less traffic on the road," she said.

The business saw its biggest boom during COVID in 2020.

"Now I think the hangover of COVID has made people pull their purse strings in a bit," she said.

That, and interest rate rises, petrol prices and costly diesel.

"Because we rely on a lot of the travellers, all those people with diesel cars and caravans, the retirees weren't travelling as much," she said.

Melrose Uralla is changing hands February 28 and moving into 80 Bridge Street.

The secret to a successful business in regional Australia is to focus on customer service and good product in order to nurture regular customers, Uralla Pie Mechanic owner Adam Hayes said.

"I see growth in rural areas. We have a lot of solar farm workers, tomato farm workers, construction, all happening around our region, obviously stimulating small business spend," he said.

To compare January and February would see a decrease, but comparing this quarter to last would show an increase, he said.

The position of the town on the highway makes travellers a major market, Highland Living owner Felicity Nivison said.

"We tend to get a lot of people coming down from Armidale looking for food and things happening over the weekend when our little town is open," she said.

"A crowd brings a crowd, we find."

Despite business quietening down in February, Ms Nivison said she's fortunate not to rely on street traffic, as she has other businesses, and does interior design work.

New England Brewing company owner Ben Rylands said he was surprised that much of their business during the Christmas and New Year period came from takeaway sales, instead of people sitting around having beers.

"It's not really the end of the world for us, but we obviously like people to be at the brewery as well," he said.

"Might be a habit leftover from COVID."

The beer brewers are using the quiet period to prepare to install a new Brew House from Canada.

The current Brew House is manual, 1000 litres, and made in England in 1982, and is a hand me down from another brewery in Victoria.

The new one will be twice the size, have pneumatic valves, touchscreens and is steam powered.

"Hopefully we'll get a bit of a quality kick out of the new Brew House," he said.

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