This post describes our trip to Sydney on 19 November 2016 to see Andrew, Caroline and Eddie at their "pop-up shop".
For 5 weeks in Nov / Dec Andrew & Caroline rented a vacant shop at 36B Oxford St, Paddington in Sydney to promote their online furniture company, Reddie.com.au - to see website click HERE.
They invited architects, designers, retailers and individual buyers to view their range, and attended several trade events in Sydney; the response was encouraging. They took some orders and made lots of good contacts.
A story in Vogue Australia proclaimed Reddie's customisable furniture as the way of the future. Wow!
On Saturday 19 November 2016 Vera and I took a train from Canberra to Sydney (and return) to catch up with the troops and see their pop-up shop in action.
Our apartment is only 10 minutes walk from Canberra Train Station. There are three trains to Sydney every day, departing at 7am, 12noon, and 6pm. The trip takes about 4 hours and costs A$28 each way (senior's rate for 2nd Class).
We took the 7am train, arrived at Central Station in Sydney at 11am; then a 30 minute walk up to the shop on Oxford St.
Looked around, lunch, took Eddie for a walk in Centennial Park, then caught the 6pm train and arrived back in Canberra at 10pm. A busy but good day.
Here are some photos.
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| Vera boarding the train at Canberra Station. |
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| We went 2nd Class - quite comfortable - food and drinks were available for purchase. But what a contrast to the High Speed trains in China - we would have done the 300 km to Sydney in less than half the time. |
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| The main notice board at Central Station, Sydney. |
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| The Reddie pop-up shop at 36B Oxford Street. Convenient location on the periphery of the Central Business District. Quite a lot of passing foot traffic. It used to be a jewellers shop but had been vacant for more than a year. Andrew, Caroline and Paul Milton (Caroline's dad) did a great job painting and cleaning the place up - it looked good. |
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| Inside the Reddie pop-up shop. |
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| Andrew, Eddie and Vera outside the pop-up shop. |
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| Vera reading a book to Eddie. He is a great little kid. |
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It was good to see Andrew, Caroline and Little Eddie again. Also, we hadn't been to Sydney City for some years, and it was fun seeing those areas again.
Going up by train was relaxing and pleasant. We usually travel by car, so this was a different experience for us.
Our best wishes for success with Reddie - start-ups are a challenge - fingers & toes crossed for them.
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The next post will be about my nephew's wedding in Canberra.
Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.
Alex & Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Saturday 25 March 2017
