Shops in Nimbin's eclectic village hit market for the first time in 30 years

Rarely do opportunities present themselves to buy into the town on the edge of an extinct volcano in a lush green valley, says John Wilcox of Nimbin Hills Real Estate, who has worked as an agent in the area for 40 years.

“Nimbin’s built on a ridge-line, there’s only a certain commercial value in town,” he says.

Located along the main drag at 70 Cullen Street, near the Sibley Street intersection, two tenanted shopfronts in one timber building are listed together for $995,000.

With an annual combined return of 6 per cent, La Trattoria offers “authentic Italian cuisine”, making the most of the township’s munchies while its next door neighbour Art Attack is a pop-up vintage clothing shop.

The timber building spans 109 square metres, with entrances through glass multifold doors, and two parking spaces out the back on a 645-square-metre land parcel. It’s in an excellent position near the roundabout with high foot traffic.

The current owners are slicing and dicing their assets after 30 years, bound for “a new opportunity elsewhere”, says Wilcox. They ran the pizza shop for many years before stepping back.

“The owners of this incredible and well-maintained property are making way for a lucky new person to come and join the Nimbin business community.”

“It’s located in a prime location opposite the [Nimbin] Hotel … we have 100 per cent occupancy in our buildings,” Wilcox adds.

Aside from its laid-back lifestyle, Nimbin is also known for its creative pursuits – poetry and craft, music and spiritual awareness combine to a backdrop of heritage shopfront murals painted in 1973 during the inaugural Aquarius Festival.

The shopfront at 70 Cullen Street is home to one such mural, which has recently become the backdrop to many a tourist selfie.

The mural is described as an indigenous inspired dot-painting of a reclining figure in a stylised take on our national emblem of the emu and the kangaroo.

Nimbin was once home to a thriving dairy industry with excellent cheese making, which is these days mostly left to Nimbin Valley Dairy, a fifth generation family-owned and operated dairy farm a five minute drive east of town.

Nimbin’s old butter factory is now an arts and crafts centre with a theatre on the edge of the village.

Investors should buy into Nimbin, says Wilcox, because it’s a connected community with assured commercial longevity.

“It is assured because of the proven longevity and growth of an alternative culture in Nimbin, celebrated through multiple festivals per year including the Roots Music Festival, Mardi Grass Festival [and] Aquarius Festival to name a few.”

Wilcox says there are plenty of vegetarian restaurants, a free local swimming pool, a community spirit and environmentally-conscious people.

“It’s relaxed but it’s moved forward … there have been like 50 blocks of land sold last year, so it’s a growing town.”

“There was an extension of the village in two areas plus a rural-residential development of acre blocks, just out of town.”

The locals are a “fruit salad” mix of interesting people, says Wilcox.

“You have the original land holders and their families … then you had an influx of people out of the cities. And now there are young families and closet greenies. A lot of people came up here in COVID wanting food security and water security,” he says.

“Beautiful soil up here, volcanic soil up in these valleys, it’s amazing. So, you’ve got your lush green valleys going into tall timber national parks, and then the streams run down through the centre. Just beautiful.

“Nimbin is described as tall timber and fast water, because we have huge national parks with magnificent rainforest areas and fast flowing creeks for swimming holes and waterfalls.”