End of an era for Lovell’s Newsagency

Louise later joined them — as soon as she was able to leave school at the age of 14 years and nine months.

Her role was initially working in Lovell’s Toy Palace, before moving into the newsagency.

Now it is the end of an era, with the newsagency sold to new owners in mid-August after more than half a century being owned and run by the same family.

Maurice and Shirley had previously owned a newsagency in Melbourne, but when they outgrew it, they looked for a bigger one, deciding on one in Shepparton that would allow their children to eventually join them in the family business.

Since then it has always been a family-run affair.

Maurice and Shirley’s daughter Wendy Lovell also joined them in 1977, when she finished school.

Wendy worked in the newsagency until she was elected into parliament in 2002.

In the past five years, Louise’s husband, David Brown, has also played a part, opening the business at 7am each day and doing a couple of hours’ work before moving on to continue his day in another business he owns.

Gary’s two sons also worked there for a while.

When Maurice and Shirley retired from the business, their children took over, but now Gary is retiring, and plans to play plenty of bowls and do a bit of travel.

Louise, however, is going to stay on working at the newsagency under the new owners — something she is pleased to be able to do.

“I was not looking forward to missing my customers, but I’ll still get to see everyone,” Louise said.

For Gary, the things he said he would miss the most were the contacts he had with suppliers and other newsagents through conferences and events.

“I made friends in different states and am still in contact with them now,” he said.

He also said he would miss the customers he had gotten to know over so many years and the daily interactions with them.

Both agreed the industry had changed a lot over the years, especially since COVID times.

“It was a different industry to what it is now,” Louise said.

Back then were the days of home deliveries of newspapers — something they stopped doing only in recent years — as well as plenty of magazines and newspapers being sold in the business and lots of corner shops as sub-agents to sell newspapers.

Gary remembers back when he started in the business, his day would start at 5am organising home deliveries of newspapers.

As the business grew, this turned into 1am starts in later years.

Since Lovell’s stopped its distribution of papers, the hours have gone back to a far more friendly 9am start for him.

For the owners of Lovell’s Newsagency, their welcoming presence and personal touches have always been part of what the business is about.

“Dad said once always give people the time of day because you might be the only people they talk to all day,” Louise said.

It is something Maurice and Shirley’s children have continued to live by, and Louise said she had made many friends with regular customers.

“About 70 per cent of customers are friends,” Louise said.

“I was four when we bought the newsagents. It’s all I’ve ever known.

“I always knew I’d be part of the business.”

Lovell’s Newsagency is also a lotto agent, and Louise said selling winning tickets and then holding that secret for the winners was among her highlights of her time in business.

“I’ve always loved helping when someone’s won first division in lotto,” she said.

“They’d tell us on the quiet.

“It’s such a wonderful feeling when you sell a winner. You feel like you’ve won.”

She estimates they would have sold more than 50 winning lotto tickets over the years.

“On average, it’s been one a year,” she said.

One time, the business sold two first division tickets and a Super 66 division winner all in one week.

The business also received plenty of accolades over the years, both from suppliers state-wide and the Shepparton business community.

Louise was philosophical about the sale of the business, but glad it would still continue to be part of the Shepparton business landscape.

“It’s sad, but exciting times for it all,” she said.

“Everything has to come to an end.

“At the same time I’m excited there are new people in the shop and it’s giving it a new lease of life.

“It’s not like we are shutting the doors because we’ve retired.”

Both Louise and Gary thanked everyone who had been involved with the business as a worker or a customer over the years.

“Thanks to all our customers and staff,” Gary said.

“And thanks to the business community and the town,” Louise said.

“We’ve really enjoyed our life as newsagents.”

The new owner, Shepparton’s Ketul Patel and his family, will continue to operate the newsagency under the same name.