From the hordes of people desperate to secure a Christmas tree on opening day to a guinea pig wedding, Peter Owen has had a blast at Eyebright for the past 37 years, but it is time to hand over the helm.
The popular shop on McShane Rd that is described on its website as ‘New Zealand’s happiest place’ is now for sale for the first time.
Its Christmas shop is a destination in the lead-up to the festive season and sits alongside jewellery and home décor in an eclectic mix. While outside, the Wendleton Guinea Pig Village has its own following, and in the paddocks to the rear of the shop, customers choose their Christmas tree, pick peas or cut their own bunches of sunflowers in summer.
It all began nearly four decades ago when Peter began selling dried flowers with his former wife Adrienne Matthews in the building that is now The Junction at the other end of McShane Rd.
“The dried flower thing when we started it in 1986 was huge, so we totally jumped on the bandwagon. But then dried flowers completely and utterly went into freefall. We managed to just keep ticking because we had the shop and we diversified.”
Keen to own their own space, they purchased “a flat cow paddock” at the other end of the road and with the help of a few “miracles” that included cheap building materials, a friend with a crane and cherry picker, plus a builder willing to let him work alongside him, the skeleton of a building was created.
“I cried when we were finished. It was just such an emotional thing to get it completed. NBS totally went out on a limb for us when every other institution basically thought we were joking because we didn’t really have any money.
“It opened in time for Christmas and I absolutely remember the first person who stepped through the door. She just stopped there and said ‘this is marvellous’.”
A garden and pond evolved beside the shop, then the Wendelton Guinea Pig Village, complete with tiny houses and a bunch of guinea pigs. The romance between Hansel and Petal in the guinea pig village led to their wedding, complete with formal invitations, bows on chairs and an exchange of vows between the hairy couple.
“The guinea pigs have been extraordinarily popular. They’re fantastic animals.”
In 2010 the first crop of Christmas trees went on sale and since then the business has sold 1,000 trees a year.
“The first day of sale every year is crazy. Two hundred people will front up at eight o’clock on 25 November.”
Pick-your-own sunflowers, cobs of corn and peas were other ideas that sprang up, giving customers the opportunity to harvest their own food – or flowers. Peas, in particular, have been a big hit.
“Hell, yes. It’s such a rare thing to be able to do these days. Timing is critical because you have to have them ready to pick just before Christmas.”
At 67, Peter says it is time to find someone with the enthusiasm to take the business into the future.
“I will totally miss it. I love what I do, but I could wait until I keel over in the paddock and it all turns to custard, or say ‘get real’. I want to see Eyebright continue and I want the right person to turn up.”
Once Eyebright is sold, he intends to find some land with his wife Annette and continue growing crops, but at a slower pace.
