SERVICES

Tell us about Thieles Shop

The PaintBox and Thiele’s Shop are one of Australia’s oldest shops, continuously trading since 1839. The Thiele family are one of Hahndorf’s earliest settler families; they used to run a Thiele’s Shop selling vegetables, flowers drapery, tools and all sorts of essentials. It was the Thieles who planted our amazing back garden.

How did your Events Bar and Pop- Shops come into being?

There has been a café in the building since about 2012, initially Poets Ode and we built on it from there and developed it as a purpose driven events and pop-up bar for our PaintBox workshops, exhibitions and also for the pop ups and collaborations that we have with The French Wine Centre, florists, bakers and some really amazing local wines, beers and spirits from large and small makers as well as organic growers, producers and makers. We also hold flower shows various horticultural societies and this year we will be running a prize competition for organic wines, beers and beverages.

What are some popular dishes and drinks?

We’re pouring De Groot Coffee and presenting a really simple offering of toasties, both sweet and savoury pastry items, charcuterie, croissants, organic jams and pickles in addition to beautiful French groceries and pantry foods both of which can be enjoyed by patrons at the shop and taken away. Basically anything organic and enjoyable that can be whipped up quickly for our art students and our customers. We are very proud of our wines list of French and natural wines and fabulous WildFlower Beers, we have a Sommelier who guides us, Jono Hersey of The French Wine Centre.

When it comes to the style of the cafe, where does the inspiration come from?

Our inspiration draws on the old roots of Thieles Shop and garden, which has looked after locals and wanderers in some capacity since 1839. Thieles brought a lot of joy to us because being British we’ve really missed old style corner and shops and cafes and essentially we’ve put our energy into something that has never really changed, a lot of the fruit in pastries comes from the orchard garden out the back from some of the oldest trees, its all pretty much as it ever was.

What kind of experience do you aim to give customers?

Well we’re unique in that that our cafe is actually set in a gallery, its effectively a non stop art event. Art, wine, food, flowers, music and our beautiful customers, many of whom are artists. Our locals are the most wonderful people and we wouldn’t have got through Covid-19 without them, we love them to bits, there are some great characters in Hahndorf. We also have a flower and fruit swap programme for some of our elderly residents who swap garden produce for meals, tea and coffee, the flowers end up being used in workshops, if you check Instagram you’ll see a lot of local flowers!

What are you hoping for Thiele’s in 2022?

Working with the local growers and producers, including our own family members and setting up a kitchen for our jams and pickles. We have some wonderful collaborations to announce this year in terms of wines and spirits launches and that’s before we even get to the artists!

How do other businesses get to collaborate with you?

We love to support small like-minded businesses and an application form for pop-up events can be downloaded here
.