Frank Penhalluriack selling Caulfield store where he stared down premier, prison with sausage sizzle

Frank Penhalluriack took on a premier, fines and prison sentence so he could open his Caulfield hardware store on Sundays. He’s now selling it.

The Melbourne hardware store founder who stared down a Premier, a prison sentence and bankrupting fines to bring seven-day shopping to Victoria is selling up.

The man behind Penhalluriack’s hardware store in Caulfield reckons more than a few of his ideas have been borrowed by “Mr Bunnings”, right down to the sausage sizzle, but he’s also the reason many retailers can open on a Saturday afternoon and Sundays.

Close to 50 years ago, while on a trip to America, Frank Penhalluriack saw weekend trading in action and decided to open his Hawthorn Rd shop on a Sunday when he got back.

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Initially it was business as usual for the trader, who had been operating since 1975, but with laws barring trading certain goods on Sundays in place at the time he was eventually fined.

Mr Penhalluriack refused to pay, ignoring the fines until they reached a bankruptcy inducing $500,000, at which point he pasted the summons for them onto his shopfront window to make a point.

Across six years of legal battles during the 1980s, the trader spent 19 days in prison and watched some of his goods seized to be auctioned by police, only for friends and locals to hi-jack the sell off — with one sympathiser and pinball arcade operator brought a sack of 20 cent pieces to pay for an item he bought under the hammer.

The home of Penhalluriack’s at 345 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield, is up for sale.

The police auction of goods seized from Penhalluriack’s during the 1980s.

“I had a small sense that I was making history, but I was mostly stressed to the eyeballs,” Mr Penhalluriack said.

“But once it was underway, there was no backing down. That’s the stubborn Cornishness in me.”

In 1988 Mr Penhalluriack won a decisive court battle and then Premier John Cain, who had been one of his fiercest critics, changed the law to allow trading in Victoria on Sundays shortly after — a move NSW soon followed.

“It was a bit of how to change the law, politely,” Mr Penhalluriack said.

“And I didn’t have $500,000.

“But of course Melbourne is better off. Not that we have ever had a handshake or a thank you from Mr Bunnings.”

The hardware store founder is certain Bunnings might owe a bit more than Sunday trading to his efforts.

The store as seen in 1984, about a decade after it first opened.

Weekend trading led Mr Penhalluriack to be dubbed a rebel trader.

“We were the first people to do sausage sizzles, they were free — and they certainly grabbed that off us,” Mr Penhalluriack said.

“And on the Sundays when we were trading ‘illegally’, the customers would get a free sausage and they didn’t like the inspectors fining us very much.”

His shop is now set on a sprawling amalgamation of properties that spans 7634sq m.

Local commercial property valuations typically reach $4000-$5000 a metre and industry sources have suggested it could be worth as much as $30m if sold as a complete package.

While Mr Penhalluriack said he would happily hang onto the expansive collection, including the shop where he suspects more than 1 million people have made purchases at and that he still visits for a few hours a few days a week, he was now 83 years old and it was time.

He’s hoping it could be developed with a hospital and medical centre over a few levels, with aged care rising above it, something he said was “certainly needed” in the area.

JLL is handling the sale of the 345 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield, property, with Josh Rutman, Jesse Radisich, Mark Stafford and MingXuan Li handling expressions of interest. Gary Peer’s Phillip Kingston and Simon Radolnik are also working on the sale.

Frank Penhalluriack has previously tried selling the site, but has subsequently expanded its holdings by 2000sq m. Picture: David Smith.

The 345 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield, site is one of the biggest in the suburb.

Mr Penhalluriack has previously listed the business for sale, back in 2014, but that was prior to acquiring three additional properties that added 2000sq m to its sprawling size.

Mr Rutman said with the only other site of such size being the Caulfield Race Course, there simply wouldn’t be another in the suburb like this one.

“I think it will be a high density outcome of some description,” he said.

The agent is expecting a shortlist of interested parties will be confirmed over the coming six or seven weeks, before offers are considered.

However, the store will not shut upon sale.

“It won’t disappear tomorrow,” Mr Rutman said. “There will be an ongoing opportunity for them for a little while to come, as further plans for the site are made.”

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