Oprah’s Aussie butcher shop in $10m sell off
The building that houses Victor Churchill, Woollahra is set to go under the hammer.
The building that houses Victor Churchill, which the late American chef Anthony Bourdain described as “the most beautiful butcher shop in the world”, is going up for auction.
No. 132 Queen St, Woollahra is Australia’s oldest continually run butcher shop, established in 1876, and apart from Bourdain, other celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman are big fans.
And the long-term tenants are staying, with the business known as Victor Churchill not for sale.
Among the building’s unique features are the dry ageing room with its Himalayan salt brick wall, imported from Afghanistan.
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Victor Churchill, Woollahra is “synonymous with quality”.
It features an Italian Calacatta marble slab floor.
And a charcuterie counter with Dutch Berkel meat slicers alongside a specially imported French Labesse Giraudon rotisserie.
The property has long been owned by private investors who have now decided to list it for sale via the Colliers team of Miron Solomons and Matt Pontey, who have a $10m guide for September 10 auction with Damien Cooley.
As Mr Pontey says: “The Victor Churchill name is synonymous with quality.”
The Churchill family established the location as a butcher in 1876 but since 2009 the shop has been operated by Victor and Anthony Puharich, owners of Vic’s Premium Quality Meats, which is considered the leading purveyor of quality meats in Australia.
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Victor Churchill butcher CEO Anthony Puharich in his Woollahra store. Picture: John Appleyard
The late chef Anthony Bourdain was a fan. Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
US TV host Oprah Winfrey poses for a photo with Woollahra store manager Erica Goldfinch.
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And the building features an incredible fit-out which won the Best of the Year award at the 2010 International Interior Design Awards held in New York; the first butcher shop to ever be nominated.
As Mr Solomons says: “This is very clearly the best shop in the best part of Queen Street’s renowned retail village and as such we expect to see deserving interest locally an internationally for this asset.
“Not only is the tenant and the fit out exceptional it also has history and plenty of future with the lease offering a long tenure.
“We have not seen a strip retail offering of this calibre brought to market in a few years and especially one located in one of Sydney’s most affluent and highly desirable regions.”
Mr Pontey added: “The strip of retail is incredibly tightly held with a very strong concentration of wealth.”
The Puharichs have also recently opened their first Melbourne shop in Armadale in the city’s south east.
The building is Australia’s oldest continually run butcher shop, operating since 1876.
Other special features of the Woollahra property include the classic front facade, as well as rich timber wall panelling, a timber beamed ceiling and Italian Calacatta marble slab floor.
The ceiling and counter fronts feature hand-carved copper fretwork by Di Emme Creative Solutions.
This retail strip in Woollahra continues to demonstrate its strength and appeal, underscored by
Colliers recent sale of The Queen Street Collection at 74 to 78 Queen Street.
This prime asset sold for $9.5m in May to a local private family, achieving a net passing yield of 3.3 per cent.
