A Birchalls employee for 35 years, the stationery manager works alongside all three of her sons, Josh, Kayden and Chris, at the Brisbane Street store.

“The last day I walk out of here is going to be very strange – it’s a family business, but we’re a family within Birchalls,” Mrs Brown said.

In 1982, a 16-year-old Cheryl wrote a letter to Birchalls asking if they had any positions available. She was summoned for an interview and told ‘you start tomorrow’.

After so many years, she said it’s hard to believe that this is the last year Birchalls will be running the back-to-school period.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s not going to be here, it’s like a second home really,” Mrs Brown said.

Starting in Birchalls’ original bulk store, she worked her way through different aspects of the business before finding her niche in managing the stationery.

In that time she has seen the business change dramatically through the introduction of computers, welcomed numerous loyal customers and dealt with the unexpected – such as walking into a flooded store at 7am on a winter morning.

Mrs Brown said it will be a very busy time in the next few weeks as students and schools prepare for the year ahead.

“I’ll miss that, I don’t think you’ll get another atmosphere like that in a shop, when you have the four registers going and it’s really busy, it’s just a good atmosphere,” she said.

After that, she will take a few weeks of holidays and decide on her next adventure.