Next time you head out to the Blue Mountains for a weekend away make a stop at Springwood.
Don’t bother Googling for local attractions; just drop in at Birney’s clothing store in the main drag, Macquarie Street.
Birney’s looks like a clothing store and it is a clothing store.
But it’s also Springwood’s unofficial tourist information centre.
And the lovely young lady serving behind the counter, Sarah Warrick, 21, owns the store and doubles up as the local information officer.
“We are always being asked about local attractions,’’ says Sarah, who lives down the road at Winmalee with her folks.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Recently everyone’s being asking about where the snow is, what the traffic is like,’’ she says.[/social_quote]
We put her to the test, and asked Sarah: We are out of town, we’ve just walked through your shop and we’ve asked you to tell us about art and craft around here.
Quick as a flash, Sarah says: “the Norman Lindsay gallery is a five minute drive away from here.’’
Sarah says the Springwood shopping strip is also worth visiting for its famous hippie store not far from Birney’s, and a well known and popular kids shop, among others.
What she doesn’t mention is that Birney’s itself is a bit of a Blue Mountains institution for generations of local women – it has been trading for more than 60 years.
Sarah worked in the shop until it went up for sale close to two years ago, and decided to run it herself.
She stocks it with the latest fashions for all ages – “from 10 to 100’’ – and caters for all tastes, from conservative to funky.
But if you ever drop by and you’d also like to know a good local place to have coffee, have a meal or a gallery to check out, just ask Sarah Warrick at Birney’s clothing store in Macquarie Street, Springwood.
It will save you having to Google it.
♦ Disclosure: Sarah’s father Gary Warrick is a former Fairfax Community Newspapers colleague and friend of South West Voice editor and publisher Eric Kontos.
