As told to Vicki Milliken
Alarmed at the thought of Williamstown losing another locally owned small business, sisters Sharyn and Kylie leapt into the breach. ‘Sometimes you have to be pushed out of your comfort zone,’ says Sharyn.
Growing up, Sharyn Robinson remembers wanting to be an actress, a writer, or a TV cooking show host – not because she liked cooking, but because the women on those shows looked so glamorous. The two things Sharyn, now 58, knew she never wanted in a job were nine-to-five predictability and to be confined to an office. ‘I need variety; I get bored easily.’
Sharyn discovered her perfect job at age 24, when she became a flight attendant. ‘I loved it.’ She especially loved shopping during layovers – Anthropologie in LA, Liberty and Harrods in London. But after nearly 30 years, much of it spent flying internationally, it ended abruptly. Covid hit. Qantas grounded aircraft. Sharyn handed in her ID, her uniform, and transitioned from travelling hundreds of thousands of kilometres every year to staying within five kilometres of her home in Williamstown. ‘I found it really tough.’
But when in late 2024, one of Williamstown’s beloved lifestyle stores went up for sale, Sharyn’s family pushed her to think about buying it. While restless for new horizons, Sharyn wasn’t enthusiastic – retail was tough and customers weren’t guaranteed. ‘I was like, no way. I don’t want to do that.’
But younger sister Kylie could see the potential. ‘I think we could make this work,’ Kylie told her sister. Sharyn’s reticence melted as she envisioned an opportunity to give her creative side free rein. She loved the idea of bringing a little piece of Harrods to Williamstown. By early 2025, the sisters had become business partners.
Four years younger, Kylie had forged a different career path to Sharyn’s. Shortly after marrying, she and her husband started a forklift training business – her husband managing the training side and Kylie honing her business skills managing everything else. ‘[But it] became very big, and we became very stressed,’ says Kylie. After ten years, the couple accepted an offer to sell, moving their family from Eltham to Newport.
Both sisters agree that the business has brought them closer. From talking once a week, they now talk multiple times a day. To save their sanity, Sharyn says, some days they agree not to talk to one another at all, or to choose topics that aren’t about the business. ‘We’ll go okay, no shop talk … which is good because [the shop] is on your mind 24 hours a day.’
Asked what advice they’d give other siblings looking to start a business together, Sharyn says it’s important for each to work to their strengths. Kylie agrees. ‘I love that [Sharyn] can do all the merchandising and decorate the store. I can’t do that. That’s just not how my brain works … I know how to run all the business side of it. She doesn’t. She’s not done that before, so she’s very comfortable with me taking control of that.’
Sharyn smiles. ‘I’m very free-spirited, but [Kylie’s] very sensible.’
