Can you think of a fashion boutique which has operated in the same village high street for almost 40 years? We know of one in Sydney – reads of Woollahra. On observing owner Mary Read from its entrance, it is clear that some of our most fashionable women and the local village would at a loss without her.

While it may be too strong to say ‘nothing would happen without Mary’, Mary has been behind many of the initiatives that have ensured Australia’s smallest and most beautiful shopping village, Woollahra Village, remains vibrant.

The day the Australian Film & Television School turned down Mary’s enrolment application was in hindsight a wonderful coup for Queen Street, Woollahra. Not knowing really what to do, Mary kept her part-time sales assistant role in a Queen Street boutique and ended up owning it.

At the time, the shopping strip was an antique collectors delight. Many of the antique stores have now been replaced with stores of fashion, gourmet food, homewares, art galleries and cafes – all at the exclusive end of the scale.

“I don’t think there’s another part of Sydney that offers such a diverse range of businesses and services for residents and visitors,” she says.

Mary is a natural in promoting the village. She reels off the names of local business owners and their expertise like she is reading the pages of a Yearbook.

Mary knows most people around here and in her own creative way puts a lot of effort into encouraging community. She has been ever vigilant of Queen Street’s vibrancy.

A member of the Queen Street and West Woollahra Association (QSWWA) for many years, Mary has sat on its board for periods and taken breaks to recoup her energy. She is currently Vice-President.

She initiated the Woollahra Festival, now run by a separate organisation; the recent Woollahra Village Weekend; and the QSWWA emails out the Village Voice newsletter eight times a year.

Of one thing she is sure, local village survival needs local businesses to work more collaboratively. The message is well received by local owners though it has proven hard to convince the “verticals”, the national brand stores, to fully participate.

“It’s all about being part of what is around you,” she says. “It seems to be coming through in the arts community and we need more of it in local business communities.”

She speaks of the appeal of shopping in the village. “Boutique shopping brings an intimate and unique experience to the customer. You get to meet the owner and experience their personal style in the way they style their shop and the pieces they select.”

“A visit to our stores is part of the daily experience of many locals and no doubt their wellbeing as we ask after them, their dog and so on. We give a sense of community to many of the solo householders in the neighbourhood.”

As for the 2014 initiative for Woollahra, Mary remains open and adaptive – like the way she runs her business, there is no rolling out the same routine. “I’ll think about it when I return from Cambodia”.

This opens the conversation to another community she has helped build through her establishment of Cambodia House, her Masters degree in International Development, and her current project of bringing the Season of Cambodia – a living arts festival, held in New York in 2013, to Sydney. Certainly none of this would have happened or will happen without Mary.

reads of Woollahra, 130 Queen Street, Woollahra www.readsonline.com.au