Based in the heart of Redfern where he was born and raised, Tony Merritt runs his business out of a bright yellow cottage shopfront, where he sells and stocks batteries for cars, boats, trucks and forklifts.
Setting up shop in his home suburb was a natural choice for him. As a local identity starting off with no clientele, he soon discovered his customers were people he’d known for years and seen on a day-to-day basis.
“It was a bit scary because I went out on my own and I just kept going with the people I knew and I kept working and working and kept putting cards out to customers and going to warehouses,” he says.
“It was pretty daunting but then I realised you’ve got to keep trying and trying and don’t give in.
“Now we virtually do just about all the local area here,” he says.
A lot of Mr Merritt’s business comes from word of mouth, and being a part of a close-knit community has its advantages when it comes to running a small business.
An example to go by is another small business owner who Mr Merritt has known for decades.
Owner of Automotive Fleet Services in Marrickville, Nick Panos says he sees the value of small businesses supporting each other.
Owner of Automotive Fleet Services, Nick Panos and Tony Merritt Source: Supplied
“We’ve pretty much known each other for 20 years,” Mr Panos says.
“We‘ve been with Tony for the past five years and he usually supplies us with batteries."
“We’re a small business, he’s a small business and I always sort of favour supporting small businesses,” he said.
Mr Merritt also has the support of his family and some of the local community, who help out when they can.
“I’ve got a lot of friends that come up here and they’ll just help,” he said.
Boomerang Batteries logo Source: Supplied
“They see me unloading, they’ll come and grab batteries and help load them in. You try and tell them no but they say, 'no, you sit down uncle, and we’ll do it.'"
“Then I’ve got my son who comes up and helps out all the time and my daughter, my nephew, it’s all good."
Boomerang Batteries has a number of long-term commercial clients around Sydney, with plans to expand outside of the Sydney metropolitan area down towards Wollongong and upwards to the Central Coast.
