Between the two of them, GV Batteries owners Les and Julie Hughes work 120 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year, to sustain a family business that has survived 72 years.
“I've been in here since as early as I can remember,” Les says of the North St shopfront.
His parents, Don and Enid Hughes, came to Shepparton from Melbourne in 1949 and established Shepparton Auto Wheel Works.
A few years after opening for trade, Don built new premises on a vacant block of land behind the Terminus Hotel.
“All that was there was the biggest peppercorn tree you have ever seen,” Don told The News in 1987.
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The business expanded to include battery sales about 10 years later and has thrived in the decades since.
“They came here because it was a rich and vibrant farming community with huge potential,” Les says.
“It still is today, 72 years on.”
Les started working full-time at his parents’ business as a 17-year-old, and he and one of his sisters, Heather, took the helm in the 1980s.
Although the outfit once known as Marshall Batteries has changed names, it has never changed hands, and just as the Hughes’ family business benefits from care and expertise passed down through generations, Les says their customer-base is full of wonderful families from the region.
“We deal with clients from all over the Goulburn Valley area, second and third generations of families come here,” he said.
“It’s a real pleasure to serve the community for such a long time.”
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When Heather passed away a decade ago, Julie joined her husband at the business full-time, and has been a crucial set of helping hands ever since.
“I handle all the fitting, and all the hands-on parts of the business, and Julie handles everything else after that!” Les says.
Julie’s role encompasses managing the books, accounts, helping customers in the showroom, jump-starting cars, and everything in-between.
While there were up to 14 full-time employees in the 1960s, today GV Batteries is a two-person team and holidays are hard to come by.
“It’s 100 per cent personal service, it’s only Julie and I that you ever speak to,” Les says.
“Getting time off is difficult, we rely on retired family and friends to fill the void a couple of times a year.”
Les and Julie don’t begrudge the responsibility, and it’s this dedication that shines through when they talk about their work.
“Every decade brings changes and different challenges, it’s just a natural progression through the times,” Les says.
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Julie says she and Les spend almost all of their time together, along with their dogs Ben and Dusty who make frequent appearances at the workshop, and there is rarely conflict - work is work.
GV Battieries opens six days a week, from 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays, and Les returns to work most nights to handle technical jobs.
“I just take a little bit of downtime to go out with my dogs, and then I come back to work,” he says.
This way Les can make headway in the workshop, tackling complex tasks uninterrupted.
“That's been a routine that I've had for probably 20 years now.”
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Les says he is always learning on the job, which can be very technical, and he values the good support he receives from other businesses.
“Shepparton is very blessed to have a very good range of auto electricians and automotive shops,” he says.
Les and Julie don’t have children to take the reins of the business, and they plan to keep working for “some time yet”.
They say they haven’t made a succession plan, and if the business were to sell to a third party it would have to be on their terms.
“It’d have to sell to a local person, not a company,” Les says.
“We want the business to continue with its personal service.”