Mac's Collectables on the move

Niki Trotter and her dog Bart inside Mac's Collectables. Photo / David Haxton

An antiques shop which has been operating in the Raumati Beach village shopping area for half a century is relocating.

Mac's Collectables, at 22 Raumati Rd, is a well-known shop in the village selling a wide range of secondhand goods from general items to collectables.

Outside Mac's Collectables. Photo / David Haxton

Shop owner Niki Trotter will be shutting its doors by the beginning of June, after some lease issues arose, and reopening it in part of her house at 8 Poplar Ave, Raumati South.

"I've got a double garage and a single garage, so plenty of storage, and I've got a middle level of the house which is unused, which can be set up as a shop.

"And it's right on the road, which is on the intersection of Poplar Ave and Rosetta Rd."

Niki hopes the relocation will work out, noting the business sold a lot on Trade Me too.

The shop has been in Raumati Rd since the 1970s when it was known as Mac's Mini Mart.

By the 1990s the name changed to Mac's Quality Furniture and Secondhand.

"The name was quite a mouthful so I've just called it Mac's Collectables."

Niki has been at the shop since 2001 when she became a co-owner, and for about the last five years has owned the shop by herself.

A wide variety of items inside Mac's Collectables. Photo / David Haxton

She got into the antiques business after being off work for a year when she developed a repetitive strain injury in her right hand while doing a job in market research.

"My right hand was so sore, I couldn't do anything, and thought 'what on earth am I going to do?'

"There was an antiques shop in Paekākāriki called Clodee's Collectables and it closed down.

"I thought maybe I could do that [run a similar shop] so I did and called it Niks Naks.

"I used to go to garage sales, auctions, and was there for four years from 1998 before I got the opportunity to go into business at Mac's Collectables, which was a lot better, because it got to the stage in Paekākāriki where I couldn't expand, and that was before online trading as well."

Niki has enjoyed her time in the Raumati Rd shop sourcing various items and interacting with various customers.

"And with the online and shop combination I've always got something to do.

"Half the day is spent packing things that have sold the previous day.

"It's just a busy day."

Niki has also put a lot of effort into making sure the shop is well presented.

Some of the items in Mac's Collectables. Photo / David Haxton

"People say 'what lovely stuff you've got' and 'it's so well laid out'.

"So many people come in and say how much they like looking around."

Customers like saying hello to Niki's friendly bichon poodle Bart too.

The shop had established itself as a a bit of a destination.

"You even get people who come here, that used to live here as kid, remember the shop.

"In those days it wasn't really an antique shop it was more of a real secondhand shop."

Niki had seen retail go through various phases over the years.

"Everyone wanted Royal Doulton, Royal Albert, Carlton Ware, but now a lot of that stuff has lost its appeal.

"It changes all the time."

Online trading had also helped keep the shop open.

"On its own these kinds of shops find it very difficult to survive and close down.

"I'm one of the few that are left."