West Burleigh Store, Heritage-listed general store in Burleigh Heads, Australia.
The West Burleigh Store is a substantial two-storey timber shop house at 33 Tallebudgera Creek Road, about 2.8 kilometres southwest of Burleigh Heads. Its large plate glass windows with a recessed entrance were designed to maximise display space, and wooden box shelving still lines an inside wall. Alf Fletcher lived above the shop with his parents and later his wife Gussy.
Alf Fletcher bought the existing general store from J. Cuddihy in 1928; when his lease expired he built this second West Burleigh store, completed in February 1935 about 400 metres from the railway station. He ran it until his death in 1963, after which his widow Gussy continued trading into the early 1970s. The post office and telephone exchange also operated from an attached building on the northern side.
The store also housed West Burleigh's post office and telephone exchange in a smaller building attached to its northern side, so residents collected mail and made calls where they bought their goods. Alf Fletcher ran the shop until his death in 1963, and his wife Gussy, whom he had employed there, kept it trading into the early 1970s.
The store is located along Tallebudgera Creek Road in a walkable part of Burleigh Heads near the town center. As it remains an active retail business, visitors should plan their visit during normal trading hours and be respectful of any restricted access areas.
The bi-coloured timber floor was unusual for its time, and the wooden box shelving lining an inside wall still displays goods for sale. Petrol bowsers once stood under the verandah on the footpath, and a large rear shed held livestock feed until the 1980s or early 1990s.
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