A QUINTESSENTIALLY 153-year-old rural Australian business, made internationally famous in song, is for sale.
Tenterfield Saddler, based in the New England town of Tenterfield, still occupies the original heritage-listed blue granite, tin-roofed building on High Street.
The store sells handcrafted leather goods and Tenterfield Saddler-branded merchandise and is a key tourist destination, staffed by volunteers.
Music lovers still flock to the town to see the venue that was immortalised in internationally acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter and Academy Award winner Peter Allen's 1972 song The Tenterfield Saddler.
The song is a tribute to Allen's grandfather George Woolnough, who ran the saddlery from 1908 until his retirement in 1960.
The sale includes the shopfront property on 705 square metres of land and stock in the store.
A key asset is a range of trademarks, including the name and the logo, which features a silhouette of a stockman, based on the statue outside the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach.
The Tenterfield Saddler was bought as a working saddlery by Brisbane-based couple Brian and Lana Meldon in 1995. They trademarked the Tenterfield Saddler name and built an authentic, Australian owned and made brand, successfully running the business for more than 25 years.
However, due to Mr Meldon's poor health in later years, the couple could not invest the time and capital the business needed to reach its full potential.
Mr Meldon died in 2021 and his wife is now seeking an entrepreneurial investor willing to reinvigorate the store and the brand.
Dianne Reynolds, Lloyds Corporate Brokers, said the there had previously been Tenterfield Saddler concept stores on the Gold Coast and at Breakfast Creek Wharf in Brisbane, branded beer on tap in pubs, and a range of traditional country-style high-quality merchandise, including clothing, leather goods, stock whips and saddles, available at the store or by mail order. The products were popular with major Australian corporate clients as promotional gifts.
The business lost momentum because of Mr Meldon's ill health and subsequent death, so it needs love, care and capital to take it to the next level.
"This is an opportunity to save an iconic Australian brand and rebuild a business that is older than R.M.Williams and has a deep heritage," Ms Reynolds said.
"The registered intellectual property gives a new owner a platform to expand the Tenterfield Saddler brand, capitalising on the continued popularity of Peter Allen's song.
"There's an opportunity to garner international online sales of Tenterfield Saddler merchandise, through maintaining and expanding the brand's unique rural Australian flavour and implementing a marketing campaign."
The land on which the saddlery stands was originally bought in 1858 by Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson, who later became the first NSW Premier. The first saddler opened for business on the site in 1870.
The building later was a bank then a private home for 21 years before the next saddler opened in 1897 and the property has been a saddlery ever since. George Woolnough was the third saddler to use the premises and was followed by several more.
The building was classified by the National Trust in 1972 and, apart from maintenance and essential restoration work, is in original condition.
Tenterfield Saddler is being sold by Lloyds Corporate Brokers through an expressions of interest process.
Contact Dianne Reynolds, 0437 965 616, Lloyds Corporate Brokers.
