It's Anne Thomas' first time owning a retail business.
In the past she was involved in residential property development in Auckland, building and selling high-end homes in its eastern suburbs.
"But retail is quite a different environment," she said after she and her husband bought a homeware store in Waipapa earlier this year.
Anne, Dave and daughter Liv moved to Northland from Auckland in May.
"We bought a cool house with a waterfall and river boundary here in Waipapa. Up until June I spent a few years flying with Air New Zealand and was an inflight service manager and customer service trainer with them.