Dream Marine Echuca owner Jeff Riley.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Dream Marine Echuca will close its doors for the final time today, bringing to an end 24 years of helping locals and tourists alike get back on the water.
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A lot has changed in the way that people use their boats in that time, and business owner Jeff Riley has watched that shift happen in real-time.
Mr Riley first opened the shop in 2002, after relocating from Kilmore to Echuca, with intentions to turn his interest in boats into a business.
“Boats have always been a passion of mine,” he said.
“I bought my first boat when I was 18, and the passion grew from there.”
He specialised in repairing inboard ski boats, a type of vessel where the engine sits inside the boat’s hull.
Because of the position of the engine, these boats are often used for watersport.
They feature prevalently in competitions such as the Southern 80, but Mr Riley’s focus as a business owner was always solely on what he described as social boating and family sport.
“[Owning a business is] an ultimate life journey,” he said.
“Ninety per cent of the enjoyment I got out of it [came from] being able to put people back on the water so that families could enjoy their holiday.
“That’s what boating was initially ‒ it’s about families coming up here to have a holiday and spend time together.”
Mr Riley said the decision to close Dream Marine Echuca was by no means one he made lightly.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Though his business grew faster than he ever expected it could, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Mr Riley.
“It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, and a lot of hard times with floods,” he said.
During late 2010 and early 2011, floodwaters inundated parts of northern Victoria, causing widespread damage to infrastructure, and impacting tourism.
“It was 18 months of no tourists, no boats whatsoever,” Mr Riley said.
Despite the downturn in trade, the business stayed afloat.
But at the turn of the decade, a new set of challenges emerged that Mr Riley said shifted how people interacted with boating.
“Everything changed after the last lot of floods and COVID,” he said.
“Boats are toys. Financially, in my mind, the toys get put away because of living expenses... people don’t have the time, nor the funds.”
He said that several factors, from the increased cost of fuel and groceries, to the eviction of some annual site-holders from holiday parks after the 2022 floods, had led to a significant decrease in boat use.
“People would come up for two to four weeks at a time,” he said.
“At the moment, I believe they’re only coming up for one week, and they’re not using their boats as much as they used to [because] fuel, groceries, having to pay for accommodation ‒ that all adds up, which would make it a really expensive week.”
It’s all culminated in Mr Riley making the difficult call to shut up shop.
“This hasn’t been a decision I’ve made lightly,” he said.
“I just can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.
“If [running a business] was easy, everybody would do it, but in the real world, small business is hard work.”
He said the decision had taken him years to finalise, and that as the end drew closer, each day became more emotional.
Reflecting on 24 years in business, Mr Riley said he was ultimately just grateful to be able to share his love of boating with others and help them get their holidays back on track.
“If people come here with their boats, and their boat breaks down ‒ they’re on holiday, they need to, and want to be back on the water as soon as they can,” he said.
“So I guess my contribution was being able to do that.”
He said that while he hadn’t worked out what life after Dream Marine Echuca looked like, he was ready for the one thing he had planned; a well-deserved break.
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