General News
26 November, 2025
End of an era for iconic local business
THE final chapter in a true local success story will be written next month as the sun sets on Carey Covers after an incredible journey spanning four decades.
The iconic family-run business has stopped taking customer orders and plans are in place to shut the doors for the last time on December 19, following a lengthy and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to sell the business.
For operators Robert and Peter Carey, they’re bemused at the idea no-one has stepped up to take on the business, given it has a stellar track record and continues to be highly successful.
“It’s very disappointing that we’re not able to maintain the business,” Robert said, about not finding a buyer.
“We do too many variations of articles, people just couldn’t get their heads around it.
“We’re making truck tarps, we deal in shade sails, fitting inside/outside blinds, we’ve got multi-skilled people, that’s the trouble.”
Office manager Geraldine Carey agreed, saying “The general consensus was, when we put it on the market, we were too remote for people to relocate and there was too much knowledge leaving at one time.”
“Once we leave, it will be a huge loss,” she said.
As the last day draws closer, long-time staff members have been moving on to other things, though when the Carey brothers first decided to retire, all the staff were initially keen to stay on if someone bought the business.
“Yes, early in the piece, they were staying but as time went on, everybody had to make decisions,” Robert said, adding that he’s still open to talking to anyone who might be interested in taking on any part of the Carey Covers portfolio.
“If there’s anybody out there that would even like to have a look at a portion of our business, we’d highlight the truck side of it because it was built for the trucks.
“The building is 28.5 meters wide, a truck is 28 metres, we fit it in there.”
The Careys are sure that there’s plenty of business to be had in the trucking space, particularly with trucks needing new tarp systems that comply with current regulations.
“With Worksafe, it’s going to another level with the trucks,” Robert said.
“No longer are they using hand-wound tarps, it’s got to be motorised, and these are just massive turnover and worth a lot of money.
“So if there’s any interested parties, we’d very much be as helpful as we can be, to help them get into even doing just a portion of the business, just to keep industry in Stawell.”
The Carey brothers’ first foray into business saw them learning the upholstery trade back in the 1980s.
“Peter and I have been in business since basically 20-22 years old, we started off as upholsterers and antique dealers,” Robert said, “We had three apprentices who won craftsman of the year for Victoria, in the upholstery side, and one that won the French polishing, so we think we set reasonably high standards.”
As opportunities to turn a profit out of upholstery and antiques became scarce in the early 2000s, the Careys had to go back to the drawing board.
“Everything went well for a number of years but then antiques started dying, upholstery was losing its flavour,” Robert said.
“So we had to have a serious look at ourselves, then a young lady called Sonia Petering came and did a business study and she advised us to change direction and build this shed.
“We were lucky enough that we were able to turn most of the antiques into dollars and cents, and built the premises and it really changed our whole life.”
One key tweak to the business particularly changed the outlook according to Geraldine.
“Going from Stawell Upholstery and changing the name to Carey Covers took the business from three staff to 12 staff within about 18 months, it grew the business that quick,” she said.
The call to change names and to broaden the range of services on offer is something Peter Carey recognises as a profound moment for the business.
“I do believe Sonia Petering is one very clever woman, she rang 10 clients asking ‘Stawell Upholstery had done a job for you, what did you think of it?’ And they’d say no, the Carey boys did it,” Peter said.
“She came back and said our name was wrong.”
Peter also gave a lot of credit for the man responsible for designing the Carey Covers building, Rohan Fry.
“We thought this and that, and he drew it, but then he drew his idea, and that’s what put the building facing the highway,” he said.
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