Johnnycake Road is a new store in Mount Isa selling not cakes, but gorgeous gifts and homeware, similar to its much-loved predecessor, Bella Duck.
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The grand opening is this Saturday, January 20, from 9am on the corner of Miles Street and Rodeo Drive; a prime piece of real estate.
Friends and business partners Lauren Payne, and Samantha Corlis (who also owns Sanctum Medi Spa Retreat), opened Johnnycake Road two weeks before Christmas.
“It is an amazing spot. It’s very central, we do get a lot of walk-through traffic and I’ve met lots of wonderful people,” Ms Payne said.
“We were looking at other stores but you just couldn’t go past this space. With the pressed tin ceilings and the wooden floors, who wouldn’t? It has a beautiful feeling to it.”
The story behind the store’s quirky name is a little bit cute.
Ms Payne moved to Mount Isa at the start of 2017, when her husband got a job as Principal of Barkly Highway State School.
“Before my husband and I moved here we lived in a place called Collinsville, just an hour inland from Bowen, and we did a lot of river swimming as a family. And we would always drive to this place called Terrible Creek,” Ms Payne said.
“On the way, there’s a road sign to a Johnnycake Station, and we’d always call that road ‘Johnnycake Road’, and use it as a pit-stop on the way to the creek.
"So it’s kind of a metaphor for a journey – it’s not about the final destination, but we’re on the way.”
Well on the way, one could argue, by the look of sales in the store’s first month.
“The support from the Mount Isa community has been amazing!” Ms Payne said.
“We were really well supported over Christmas, and even looking around here now you can see the gaps that we’ve got. I’m placing orders every day to keep up with demand.”
With seven children between them, Lauren and Samantha have their work cut out in this new business.
“We are very busy people. But I just love it. We are so excited to be here,” Ms Payne said.
Johnnycake Road celebrates its grand opening this Saturday, January 20, from 9am (corner of Miles Street and Rodeo Drive).
View the new stock, have a wine, gourmet nibbles, and enjoy a 15 per cent discount off everything in store.
