Rupanyup Living

The building is a 1980s reconstruction of Cust's Store, the general store William Cust ran here in the 1870s, and the business inside carries something of that old civic function forward. Started in 2012 after years of drought and a bad flood, as a deliberate lift for a small farming town, it stocks homewares, kitchen and table wares, gifts from Australian designers and makers, and regional hampers, with coffee and a locally produced chickpea brownie to hand. The owner keeps a garden-side seating area out the front and opens most Thursdays and Fridays, or by appointment, hours that suit a shop run on care rather than passing trade. For a town of Rupanyup's size it is an unusually considered piece of retail, and worth timing a visit around.