Like most people in the past few weeks, the owners of landmark Wollongong cafe Lee and Me have had trouble tracking down staple groceries like pasta, flour and eggs.
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So, as a way both to survive the COVID-19 shutdown and make life a little easier for some of their customers, they've repainted the cafe signs to become "Benny's grocery store".
"We went to Woolworths looking for items for the cafe and we couldn't find them," co-owner Ben Hudson said.
"We couldn't even get eggs or meat, which surprised us, but our suppliers have plenty of that and we knew other people would be having the same problem as us."
"When people are waiting here for their takeaway coffee, we thought it could be a chance to get their staple groceries as well."
Some of the items for sale include hard-to-come-by supermarket goods, like flour, pasta, sugar, eggs and hand sanitiser, as well as Lee and Me's own chutneys, bacon and coffee beans.
Lee and Me also remains open as a takeaway cafe, but Mr Hudson said he had been "blown away" by how keen customers were to shop at the grocery.
"We've been surprised by how much it has sold - it's walking out the door," he said, noting all bread sold out by Monday after the new venture began on Saturday.
"I think first of all there's people who have responded because they need these things, but there's also a community who have come to buy it because they know it's keeping us going.
"The people who have supported us over the years will buy a few extra items even if they don't need them because they know it helps our business.
"It's that same community that supported us 12 years ago when we opened that are now keeping us going."
Next week, the cafe will start a grocery delivery service - ordered through Deliveroo, but delivered door to door by co-owner Lee Sullivan (the cafe's namesake).
Despite these measures going well, Mr Hudson said the coronavirus shutdown continued to be tough.
"It definitely feels like it's been longer than a few weeks," he said. "We have a lot of emotional days - supporting our families, trying to pay rent.
"But we don't plan on going anywhere - Lee and Me will definitely see this hard time out. We plan to be here for another 12 years."
He said the support from customers and Wollongong's hospitality industry had been remarkable in recent weeks. Many businesses have started new ventures: Howlin' Wolf bar has become a bottle shop, Lupa pizzeria is now a day time bakery and fine dining restaurants have turned into takeaway joints.
Like Lee and Me, others have started selling their stock and supplies as groceries or started up home deliveries services - and social media is full of businesses cross-promoting other local ventures.
"I think the support and community has always been there in Wollongong, but just on a quiet level," Mr Hudson said.
"Everyone is just shouting it and showing it more now to help everyone get through this."
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
