Historical Plenty Buildings

The Plenty Store

In 1916, the Plenty General store was established by Maud Fineran and her brother George Davey Staring after Maud’s husband George Francis Fineran was killed in the first world war.

The Post Office was opened in 1923, also in the music room of Maud’s home, which was located on the hill behind the present building. The home and store were relocated down the hill to Yan Yean Road when Maud’s sister Nora and husband Frank Windsor bought it in 1924.

The present building was built during the late 1960s, and the original building was destroyed by fire in the early 1970s.

 The ‘General Store’ as it was known to the people, was the hub of the community where locals were able to meet and gossip.

For many years one of the few telephones in the Plenty area was located at the store. This meant that the store performed an important role in the community, especially in the event of fires, where the storekeeper would notify the locals in an emergency. In the 1950s the storekeeper would assist the newly formed CFA unit by sounding the appropriate siren and opening the doors of the CFA shed. This cooperation would have the fire truck out with in 3 minutes of a call.

The store made headlines in the daily press when it was the scene of an armed hod up in the early 1960s, an annual occurrence back then.