A beautiful old cottage general store has long served Marrabel, a tiny town between the Barossa and Clare Valleys with a single main street and a population of 101.
Just this week, the space has been honoured in a way that feels both sentimental and destined. Owner Stephanie Hodgetts has brought this little shopfront back to the people of Marrabel and beyond after it remained a private residence for decades. “The property’s very sentimental to all of us,” Stephanie says. “We spent a lot of time there together, and the family was pretty stoked when I decided to buy it and do something with it.”
The modest general store was first purchased by Stephanie’s family in 1951, when her great-grandmother Mary Louise Donaldson bought the building and ran it as the Marrabel General Store. Her eldest daughter Joyce and husband Gordon Wright later took on the store, running it until around 1973 when the doors closed. “My nan was the baby of the family and she’s still going strong at 96,” Stephanie says. “The property’s now been in the family for just over 75 years.”
The building then transitioned from shopfront to home, remaining in the family as a private residence. It wasn’t until Joyce’s passing in early 2019 that the future of the property came into question.
By the end of that year, the shop was once again back in family hands. Purchased in late 2019, with settlement falling over the January 26 long weekend in 2020, the building began its transformation. Two years later, another symbolic milestone followed, with the sale of an Adelaide home finalised, again over the January 26 weekend in 2022, helping fund the cafe that has just opened its doors.
The idea to reopen the space as a coffee shop didn’t arrive fully formed. During COVID, Stephanie initially considered placing a coffee van out the front. “I was actually thinking about putting a coffee van on the footpath,” she says. “Then I realised, my house was a shop. Why would I stand outside in 40-degree heat or freezing winters when I already had a shopfront?” What followed was a patient, hands-on renovation spanning four years, with the aim of honouring the building and its former life while restoring it as a place for the community once more.
That restoration wasn’t without its challenges. About four years ago, a sudden New Year’s Eve tornado ripped through Marrabel, tearing the veranda clean off the building. “A little whirly-whirly tornado came through and blew the veranda off,” Stephanie says. The rebuild became an opportunity to lean into the building’s history, with the now-signature red-and-white striped veranda chosen intentionally. “I decided to do it that way to make it look more like a shop again.”
An eerily unintentional third January 26 milestone followed when Marrabel Coffee Shop officially opened its doors on January 26, 2026.
While the space now serves coffee and bites to eat rather than grocery staples, echoes of the original general store remain. The shop has been designed as a shared space, with plans to stock locally made goods alongside a simple, comforting menu of pies, toasties, sandwiches, baked spuds, cold drinks and ice creams. “I want it to feel like coming in for a cuppa at your nanna’s house,” Stephanie says.
The shop uses its signature coffee beans, known as the Curio Blend. Named after the famed rodeo horse Curio, who was only ever beaten at the Marrabel Rodeo Grounds and is commemorated with a statue on the corner of the grounds, the blend is a nod to the town’s rodeo folklore. Curio Blend was crafted by Glenelg-based barista and coffee roaster Sam Hermel of Milk Chef, whose guidance and support since mid last year has helped shape the coffee side of the business.
With the Marrabel Rodeo on the horizon, the town’s biggest annual occassion, the reopening couldn’t be better timed. The yearly event is set to temporarily swell the town’s population from 101 to more than 6,000, bringing a rare surge of movement through the main street.
Positioned neatly between the Clare Valley and the Barossa, Marrabel is already a thoroughfare for travellers moving between two of SA’s most visited wine regions. As more people take the scenic route, detour off the highway or chase lesser-known country towns, Marrabel Coffee Shop is set to become a natural stopover. Grab your morning coffee en route to cellar doors, a mid-drive pie and toastie, or a nostalgic pause in the town of Marrabel.
Marrabel Coffee Shop
Where: 47 Main Rd, Marrabel SA
When: Open seven days, 7am – 5pm weekdays, 8am – 5pm weekends
