The couple have sold their business, the Sefton Garage, after nearly 53 years and are retiring to spend more time with family and on their lifestyle block near the North Canterbury village.
Sefton locals Dan and Jasmine Gardiner have taken over the business.
Jasmine will take over he reins as site manager, while Dan will continue to work for Smiths Cranes in Christchurch.
But he will turn his hand to continuing Robbie’s little business “sharpening everything from shearing gear to horse clippers”.
The couple were looking to find something they could do together, closer to home, to provide a good “family life balance in the community” when they bought the service centre.
They have three young children at the local Sefton School.
Dan and Jasmine say it will be “business as usual”, including continuing to offer cattle yards and a ramp for hire.
But there will be a few new additions for customers, including a barista coffee machine and possibly a laundrette.
Robbie and Judy bought the business in the high profile central Sefton site in 1972.
There has been trials and tribulations over the past five decades or so, but the business has remained a focal point of the community, with a loyal and diverse customer base.
“Some have been with us forever, others are third generation,” they say.
The centre was more than just a garage and petrol station. It became a community focal point where people stopped for a chat, picked up their mail, or sought advice on all things mechanical.
The demographic has changed over the years as the district moved from a landscape of large farms, to a mix of farming and lifestyle blocks, plus urban dwellers who have helped push the boundaries of the small town outward. But it remains distinctly community.
Robbie and Judy owned the Blacksmith up the road for five years before buying the garage, where they offered a broad range of services to farmers.
They began welding and repairing farm machinery such as harrows, and went out in the wee small hours fixing harvesting or haymaking equipment that had broken down.
But as contractors took over much of the work on farms, that work began to dry up as machinery was newer and didn’t break down as often, and generally contractors fixed it themselves.
When they bought the garage the couple worked hard to build it up over the years, and business was brisk.
All that changed in 1990 when it burnt to the ground after a hangi nearby sent up sparks which landed under the corrugated iron of the workshop. With LPG on site, and other flammable material around, the garage went up in a spectacular fashion.
Robbie and Judy were not deterred. They set up shop down the road in the old Post Office, now a hairdressers, and moved the workshop into a shed in a paddock, while they waited to rebuild.
A year later everything was back on site, and it was business as usual.
However, in September 2008, Shell decided to pull the plug on fuel supply to the small business. It was able to continue to supply diesel, but it was not until nine years later, in 2017, when Nelson Petroleum Distributors (NPD) came onboard with the Bruertons, that they were able to start pumping petrol again.
Nick Bruerton, their son, managed the business for his parents in later years, but Judy and Robbie continued to play a part.
Judy worked part time in the office, while Robbie remained in demand for his skills at sharpening — even scissors.
He warns his successor whom he is mentoring, seamtresses are very particular, and sharpening their scissors is an exact art.
Nick will remain in the business running the workshop for Jasmine and Dan, where he will be one of the 13 staff, some part time, working at the centre which is open seven days a week.
It will continue to be home to NZ Post, including post boxes for Sefton residents, and will still offer a variety of goods in its well stocked convenience store, petrol and diesel, and a workshop for everything from ride-on mowers to modern day cars, tractors and trucks.
Judy and Robbie thank all their loyal staff, and customers and wish Dan and Jasmine all the best in the business that has provided them with so much fun and laughter, along with the ups and downs, in the little village and beyond, which will still be home.
