Milford Road Merchant is more than a business for Jen and her partner Fjord, it’s a modern take on the classic general store, built from the ground up with care, curiosity, and a strong connection to place.

Located on the main road through Te Anau, the store offers a curated mix of Southland goods: Hummingbird coffee, Sanga’s of Cromwell pies, in-house made treats, and a growing range of locally crafted products. Everything on the shelves comes from the lower half of the South Island, a deliberate choice that reflects the store’s community-first ethos.

The idea for the store grew from Jen’s own personal shift, a transition from full-time parenting into small business ownership. The hands-on nature of the store’s build reflects that. Jen has paved paths, built picnic tables, and shaped every corner of the space herself.

The store’s walls tell another story, one that started when Fjord brought home a secondhand painting of Mitre Peak. The skies were purple and yellow. The style, moody and abstract. It wasn’t how Jen saw Mitre Peak. Her Mitre Peak was crisp and pristine. But the contrast sparked something: a conversation about perspective. How many ways could one mountain be seen? How many versions of it had been painted, printed, imagined?

That single canvas led to a collection. Jen and Fjord gathered Mitre Peak artworks from op shops and family baches. Today, the café is lined with them, a wall of varying interpretations. Most are reproductions, but one dates back to 1910. Together, they capture the way people have seen, and felt, the same landscape differently across generations.