Jolly Olly's opens camping store in Nowra CBD

The family-owned business opened a camping and leisure store at Stewart Place in Nowra on Wednesday, March 24.

Delaying their opening due to the extreme weather, shop owner Dane Olivieri said it was a combination of public interest and the pandemic that sparked the idea for opening the store.

"Due to coronavirus, no one's really been going overseas," he said.

"And at our other store, everyone's just been asking us whether we had tents, camping supplies or four-wheel drive stuff."

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Located behind the main Jolly Olly' discount variety store on Junction Street, the shop was already owned by the family and was used seasonally as a Christmas supplies store.

"We were trying to brainstorm what to do with it," said Dane.

"We didn't want to put all of our party stock back in here, because if COVID hit again, we thought we'd have to close it.

"And everyone seemed to have an interest in camping supplies."

The owners also wanted to provide a camping and leisure store closer to the Nowra CBD to save people from travelling to South Nowra.

"No where in the CBD has anything for camping, it's all out at South Nowra," he said.

"There's no public transport that goes out to South Nowra, and a lot of people just don't like going there. It gets really busy.

"Especially since COVID, it seems the traffic out there has only gotten worse."

Since their opening on Wednesday, Dane said the store has been well received, with swags being a popular buy.

"There's been a lot of hype because of the Easter long weekend with people saying they're going camping over that time," he said.

"We've got some really good suppliers and brands like Wildtrak and Thorny Devil, but we've been incorporating our own cheaper brands, too.

"We've already sold six swags since opening."

Jolly Olly's camping and leisure store is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm, and is located at Lot 2, Stewart Place in Nowra.

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