But amid the empty shops in the small, rural township is a beacon of light and colour on the main street.
Chairful Upholstery Studio is run by local woman Rebecca Bungard who is now in her second year of business.
Mrs Bungard works away on upholstery projects in her workshop at the rear of the studio, while the cheerful showroom at the front is filled with her finished products, along with locally sourced candles, jewellery and pottery, and other homeware.
Her upholstery career got off to a rocky start when she went on a course and the tutor told her he did not think she could do it.
Undeterred, she went home and upholstered a couple of chairs. Friends then asked if she would do chairs for them ‘‘and the bug was caught''.
When her family was forced to climb over chairs to get into bed, her husband suggested she start a business. So she quit her job in Balclutha and opened the store, starting ‘‘from nothing but a dream''. Her husband had a butchers shop in Clinton in the 1980s so having a business in the town was not something that was new.
It was a good location, given there was the passing State Highway 1 traffic and also from the back road between Clinton and Mataura.
Initially, the idea was that Mrs Bungard was upholstering chairs that she sourced, but then people also started coming in with their own. She sourced chairs ‘‘from all over'' and had sold the updated models as far afield as the North Island.
Mrs Bungard could be found at her studio on weekdays and Sundays, saying it was rewarding to see ‘‘something come out of nothing''. ‘‘If I had a bed, I'd be sleeping here,'' she quipped.
Her family was supportive of the venture, with her husband doing woodwork and repairs while her sons were also capable, including the hunting enthusiast who provided her with possum skins.
