New Melbourne retail destination - Pan After.  Photo - Brooke Holm

Tools and trinkets on display at Pan After.  Photo - Brooke Holm

Pan After.  Photo - Brooke Holm

Phoebe and Mandy Munro, the Mother - Daughter team behind Pan After. Photo - Brooke Holm

Ok it's ANOTHER Melbourne retail story. Forgive me. I live in Melbourne. If there is some amazing new retail goodness I should know about in Sydney, or Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth for that matter...I am ALL EARS. But I cannot be everywhere at once, people :) So for now, it's another little local gem!

Pan After is what you get when you cross an amazing import business specialising in handcrafted African homewares (Tractor Home) with one of the CBD's cutest and most eclectic little retail destinations (After Store). Owned by mother-daughter team Mandy and Phoebe Munro, Pan After also incorporates industrial and vintage furniture, sourced by Michael, Mandy's husband, who has a passion for salvaging and restoring industrial objects.  Michael is responsible for probably some of the most unique pieces you'll spot here - such as old workbenches, carpenters plains, crabbing scoops and timber beehives!

'Pan After is a true mix of the very best of Tractor Home and After Store's favourite products' says Phoebe. 'It's an extension of After Store, focusing on more one-of-a-kind pieces and a larger selection of homewares and accessories, and it is an extension of Tractor Home into retail'

Occupying a huge, loft-like second-floor space down a laneway not far from the Queen Victoria Market,  Pan After stocks a great range homewares, furniture, garden products, soft furnishings, basketry, light shades, textiles, props and furniture. The lineup is very international - there's linen from Japan, homewares from the USA, candles from France, textiles from India, jewellery from Africa, as well as the work of many local designers.

So with mum, dad and daughter all equally responsible for the maintenance of this exciting new venture, we had to ask - what's the secret to running a successful family operated business?

'We work really well together' says Phoebe. 'The secret to running a successful family business (in our situation) is to be close but not too close! We all have our own separate projects and lives going on, working together is not everything all the time, but when we come together it's nice and it works well. We all bring different ideas, skills, concepts and styles to the business. We listen to each other, which is important, and even though our ideas are often different, they complement each other well'

Pan After
Rear 126 Franklin Street (down the lane, behind the fishing shop!)
Melbourne CBD

Open Thursday to Sunday, 10.00am to 4.00pm.

Vintage tools, brushes and gardening gloves at Pan After. Photo - Brooke Holm

Industrial lockers and Japanese linen at Pan After. Photo - Brooke Holm

Mike Munro and his vintage / industrial treasures! Photo - Brooke Holm