Buyers shrug off virus fears to bid for former Taffa’s Hardware site in West Ryde

A corner store in West Ryde that has been in the Taffa family for 64 years has sold under the hammer for $5.2 million to a private Sydney-based investor.

The store had been home to the Taffa’s Hardware since 1955, later operating under the Taffa’s Mitre 10 banner. It closed at the end of 2019, following the death of the original owner Ron Taffa the year before.

The 403-square-metre site at 1 Chatham Road – with 390 square metres of space on the ground floor and an extra 100 square metres on its mezzanine level – has three street frontages over 52 metres.

After some initial hesitance, bidding for the property, being offered with vacant possession, started at $3.8 million, with bids trickling through in $50,000 and $25,000 increments.

“We’re very happy with the result; it really goes to show that the investment market is very strong. We thought that it would probably do better than the $4.5 million [price guide] that was quoted but we didn’t expect this,” says selling agent Peter Vines from Ray White Commercial Western Sydney, advising that the new owner was an investor who would lease out the property.

Vines says that interest in the property was driven by a combination of its corner location and extensive street frontage that made it suitable for subdividing into separate tenancies, an option the new owner would likely explore.

Despite the weak retail outlook, made worse by the escalating fears about the coronavirus, Vines says buyers were determined to seek out investments that would return better figures than term deposits.

“People were asking whether the coronavirus is affecting things but, based on the number of people turning up, it’s hard to see it,” he says.

And buyers didn’t seem to be put off by the prospect of having to find a tenant.

“What’s interesting is that a vacant property would have as strong a demand as a leased property … Buyers are bullish about leasing.”

He says that the property had received about 140 inquiries over the course of the campaign, with interest coming from owner-occupiers and investors.

Vines says the Taffa family were overjoyed with the result.

“It was hugely sentimental to them and they are very happy.”

Anthony Taffa, 51, son of the late Ron Taffa had been running the store along with his sister Julianne, 47, until its closure.

He told Commercial Real Estate last month that the community response to the shutdown announcement had been incredible.

“We had so many people come through and say their grandparents used to do their shopping here, and then their parents after them, and now they did. It was incredible. They were thanking us for being such a great community service, and for everything we had done, and a couple of customers were in tears,” he says.