The seagulls still congregate outside the camp store at Papahua Domain, waiting for a feed.
But the shop’s shut so there are no tidbits for them anymore. It seems two whole communities, human and also avian, are lamenting the loss of Jo’s Takeaways.
For 19 years, to the day of her recent surgery, Jo Thompson has been the face of the cacky yellow takeaways store that sits amid the soccer fields across the footbridge from town. She’s known many of her customers since they were kids who couldn’t see over the counter.
Some of them – holidaying in the adjacent campground – came back year after year and would ask if she still remembered them. The answer of course was always yes, Jo told the Chronicle with a wink.
She reckons it’s the people who have made her job behind the counter the best. They’re what Jo misses now she’s shut up shop. “I’ve had awesome customers,” she says generously, “but it’s the kids I love the most.”
Raglan Junior Soccer teams – and their parents and supporters – have always been a big part of that equation; Jo endlessly patient as kids choose lollies and ice blocks.
And then there were the weekly ‘Player of the Day’ deals – fish, chips and a drink – to give away on Saturdays during soccer season. There were only six teams way back, she laughs, but now there are around 25, so a donation to the soccer club has had to suffice or she’d be out of business.
As the local kids have grown into teens she’s taken on quite a few of them to help in the shop at weekends, after school and in the holidays, giving them valuable work experience in a familiar environment. “I wanted to be a teacher,” Jo reveals, thinking that’s possibly the reason she’s so liked taking them under her wing.
Some have gone from shy or frumpy adolescents to confident young adults, she says. “They learn how to deal with people and that’s most important,” Jo believes. “Then they can move on in life.”
Now it’s Jo’s turn to move on. A breast cancer diagnosis early this year forced her to close the shop. “We are sorry but sometimes life throws a curveball that you just have to deal with,” Jo posted on Raglan Notice Board a week before surgery.
Hundreds of ‘likes’ and messages of support quickly followed. It was very humbling, says Jo.
She and husband Andy – fondly known as the batter boy – still own the business so, yes, theoretically they could start up again but for now Jo’s recovery is paramount. It’s been a big ask, she says, often working seven days a week from 8.30 in the morning til nine at night.
“Funerals, birthdays, weddings … I’ve missed a lot,” she adds. “Maybe the universe is telling me it’s time to give up.”
While Jo has thought of selling, that’s not her decision alone. The building is owned by Waikato District Council which has plans for Papahua Domain, she understands, and iwi too must be consulted because historically the store’s on Maori land.
Whatever happens, Jo’s got “lovely memories” to keep her going for a while and hopes the community spirit which has grown down at the domain store continues. ‘Jo’s all the way’ got scrawled in red atop a nearby rubbish bin recently, an indication of her loyal following if not of the healthy competition between the town’s fish ‘n’ chip shops.
Not that the business hasn’t been without the odd hiccup. “We’ve had our nutters and our Karens,” Andy chimes in. “And two break-ins.”
He’s been by Jo’s side at the store for quite a time now, since ill health forced him to give up his own job downtown as a mechanic with Bow Street Motors. At the shop he “did batter, cut paper, unwrapped paper, fed seagulls”, he laughs. The seagulls got what Andy calls crunchies – little bits of deep-fried batter left over in the vats – and tail cuts of fish.
Some of the gulls are suspected of having trailed the couple’s car along Marine Parade to the shop for breakfast every morning. Whatever, they are now clearly missing their takeaways as much as the Raglan community.
by Edith Symes
