Peter and Michelle McCartney celebrate 21 years at Horsham's Bennett Road Milk Bar

He picks up the newspapers, fills the pie warmer, turns on the coffee machine and looks forward to talking to the people of Horsham.

"The customers, through the years, have been the high point for us," Peter said, referring to himself and wife Michelle, who also runs the business and locks up at night.

"The ability to be able to celebrate with them has been great, too. We used to have Christmas parties, for four to five years, where we had a truck with a band on it on the spare block next to the shop next door, and musicians used to play for free and we'd have a barbecue and give kids lollies.

"We'd have a whale of a night where we'd get 400 or 500 people on the block. These days we still do tipping competitions as a social thing."

The McCartneys, originally of Nhill, took ownership of the store on September 12, 1998. Peter previously worked at Lowan and Hindmarsh shire councils and Michelle at a duck farm and a Caltex service station.

Peter said his friend Reg Forbes, who trained greyhounds for him, suggested they take over the business.

"We found it hard to get by (in the beginning), but we managed," Peter said.

Peter said the store had opened every day since the couple took over - including public holidays. He said he enjoyed opening on Christmas morning.

"We used to open then because there was a newspaper and we used to do a roaring trade," he said. "The distribution of newspapers isn't what it used to be, but we started doing it, and what Michelle and I start doing, we keep doing."

Michelle said: "Whoever's forgotten batteries - or custard or ice - will always come in at Christmas. A lot of people come in just to wish you a merry Christmas and the kids come and tell you what they've got from Santa."

Peter said their mantra of never closing continued through the tough times - including when he was involved in a head-on car crash in 2002.

"I was driving with a friend on the Western Highway east of Ararat, and a car veered onto our side of the road," he said.

"I lost my best mate Reg, and I was admitted to a Melbourne hospital for a couple of days with a fractured sternum and shoulder. Michelle and our staff kept the business running.

"You deal with a lot of things. There is no chucking in the sponge and saying it's too hard."

Michelle said while the pair started out with hired employees, Bennett Road Milk Bar had turned into a family business over the years.

"We didn't have plans of staying here for 21 years - it just happened," she said. "Both our children, Jake and Trina, work here now and our three grandchildren pop in here at times and see us, and that helps break up our weekends."

In an era where supermarkets, service stations and phone apps have seen many suburban milk bars close - often then converted into homes or other businesses - the McCartneys put their sustained tenure at Bennett Road Milk Bar down to adapting to change and being down to earth.

"We didn't used to have reading books, gifts and crafts but we've evolved into that," Peter said.

"I can remember the shop being closed and we'd be heading off and someone would pull up out the front, so we'd open back up so they could get what they needed."

Michelle said: "There was an old lady, six months ago, who wanted a pizza but couldn't walk around to get it, so we delivered it to her when we don't usually do that. You have to provide something for everyone and provide good service."

The business has been on the market for the past three years, but the McCartneys say they're in no hurry to move on.

"If someone comes along with enthusiasm to take it over, they'll go alright - but we're not tearing our hair out to go anywhere," Peter said.

"Coming from a small country town like Nhill, you know everyone - so when I came here, it wasn't to put my hand out and say "$2.50 please" all day. It was to be people's friends.

"The customers soon picked up on the fact we liked a chat and a bit of fun, which is probably where the Christmas and Australia Day parties started.

"When I see the same good people over and over again every day, that makes it worthwhile."

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