The doors of the theatre opened on Thursday morning to reveal an Aladdin’s cave of treasure, with boots, hats, work and outdoor clothing, jeans and casual wear laid out and going for a song.

Within half an hour of opening, the place was packed with eager shoppers and owner, Donna Robertson, and her team were flat out.

The Braidwood Times caught up with Donna during a slightly less frantic period on Friday.

“We opened on the fourth of July, 2008,” she said. “I got sick of travelling to Canberra to work, and we looked around to see what Braidwood needed. The idea was to provide something that wasn’t available.”

The store originally focused on just camping and hunting: tents, camping equipment, fishing gear and firearms. Over the years the stock gradually diversified into clothing and footwear and a wider range of related outdoor items.

The stock that was packed into the National Theatre over the weekend has been accumulating in storage over the past decade as changes of season and changes of style sideline some lines in favour of newer ones.

Boots were a big seller over the weekend with everything from hiking boots to cowboy boots and gumboots literally walking out the door.

This year the Outdoor Store donated pink shirts for the Rodeo Club committee’s “Are you tough enough to wear pink” fundraiser for breast cancer support.

“It was a good cause,” said Donna, referring to the donation.

“We like to get behind community where we can and support local things.”