THE iconic Titto’s Store in Eleventh Street will this year undergo its biggest makeover in more than half a century.
Purpose-built in the 1930s or 1940s as a 6m x 6m general store, the shop and fuel outlet has undergone only some minor extensions since that time, but the new year will mark a new look and the start of a new era for the well-established family business.
Owners Calum and Sheree McKinnon took over the running of the store in January 2012 from the Tittensor family who purchased the business in 1991 from the Kiapekos family who bought the shop in 1960 when it was known simply as the 11th Street Store.
Mr McKinnon said while the family had considered an upgrade to the interior of the original building over time, it wasn’t until an April 2017 accident that dislodged a fuel bowser canopy that redevelopment plans began to gather momentum.
“Our local fuel supplier and developer Steve Saunders came out that night and while helping to make the site safe he suggested turning the accident into a positive,” Mr McKinnon said.
“Without Steve’s experience in dealing with council and knowing the process the project just wouldn’t have happened.”
Concept plans were drawn up and following negotiations with council’s planning department that required a few “tweaks” the designs were adopted.
“We spent a lot of time making sure plans were the best results that could be achieved with the room we had with environmental and public safety at top of mind,” Mr McKinnon said.
“We wanted to provide a safer and better experience for our customers by providing a clear way to enter and exit the business unlike now which is a little chaotic,” he said.
“I’ve had a few customers say ‘you need to keep it the same’, but it is an old building and it does need sprucing up.”
Mr McKinnon said a council-planned bike path along Eleventh Street that “was not suitable from a public safety or future planning aspect” threw a spanner in the redevelopment plans until a design by his own engineer was acknowledged and approved to his satisfaction.
But the revamp will not only provide a new look, it will require much of the store’s infrastructure to be upgraded to meet current standards.
The old galvanise pipes to the existing two fuel bowsers will be replaced with double wall plastic piping to four bowsers at the side of the store which will cater for up to eight customers at a time.
A canopy will cover all bowsers, the store frontage will be modernised and the interior will be renovated.
There will be angle parking at the front of shop, further parking at rear of the bowsers including a disabled car park.
Automatic entrance doors will be moved to side of shop with an exterior area for chairs and tables.
Mr McKinnon said the works were expected to take about four months to complete and it was hoped they would begin mid to late this year.
He said the store would retain its iconic name Titto’s.
