Ah Toy's Store, Pine Creek

Ah Toy's Store was located at 35 Main Terrace in Pine Creek. It was opened in 1935 by Jimmy and Lily Ah Toy.

Ah Toy Store_ABC education

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The store has been serving people since it was Wing Cheong & Co. tailor shop and general store early this century. It became Ah Toy’s Store when Jimmy Ah Toy returned home to Pine Creek and purchased it in 1935 just after the old Enterprise Mine reopened. It is still owned and run by the Ah Toy family, and has undergone very few structural changes over the years. It’s simple design has proved its durability and it has been a meeting place and the hub of Pine Creek life ever since.

Source: Visit Pine Creek https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1aWXpajPsjG8gTjt-39nhzqyBeU0&ll=-13.82239339999998%2C131.83379439999996&z=9

Ah Toy's Store has supplied the sleepy Top End town of Pine Creek with everything its residents have needed for 80 years.

The family-run general store has stored uranium, weighed crocodile hides, and kept miners in boots and beer.

Eddie Ah Toy joined his father in the shop in January 1955, straight out of high school.

"I thought, I'll come down for a few years, and that few years turned into 60 years, I'm afraid. But that's a choice of life," the third-generation Pine Creek Ah Toy said.

It is a choice that has given Mr Ah Toy a ring-side view to the historical pioneering town's changing fortunes.

The town has ridden the boom and bust cycles of mining since gold was discovered there in 1871.

But it was hit especially hard by the rapid decline of the iron ore price in 2014.

So it was a hard day for the family when they closed the door for the final time in March this year.

"When something has been going for 80 years and been a family business for all that time ... and me being involved for 60 years, it's quite a sad era to be honest," Mr Ah Toy said.

An exodus of more than half the population made it unviable to keep the store open.

"That is what life is all about isn't it, moving on," Mr Ah Toy said.

Source: ABC Rural https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-11-04/pine-creek-store-eddie-ah-toy-serving-nt-80-years/6900306

Ah Toy Store old

Image Courtesy of: ABC Education