But when Graeme Shekleton (69) retires at the end of October, he will have spent 48 years at the fabric shop his father started - the Oamaru Silk Centre on the corner of Thames and Wear Sts.
His departure will end the family's 64-year association with the business.
Leaving work near his 70th birthday was always the plan, Mr Shekleton said, though he never planned on becoming a fabrics retailer in the first place.
''When I was a teenager I didn't even like coming in the shop - because it was a ladies' shop,'' Mr Shekleton said.
And while his initial hesitation ''went very quickly'' he remained aware that he was ''very much a man in a lady's world''.
However, since work in his first vocation, banking, meant relocating, he chose the stability of life at the shop his father started.
These days, the name of the shop was ''a bit of a misnomer'', as it no longer made its trade in silk, but earlier the shop became well-known around the lower South Island among dressmakers.
The Oamaru Silk Centre became well known in the bridal industry after Mr Shekleton impressed at Dunedin bridal fairs, and dressmakers would frequent the shop during ball gown season, as well.
But with online shopping taking over this past decade, the business had changed.
''Kids these days all buy their frocks on the 'net','' Mr Shekleton said.
While some customers still sewed their own clothes, there was now a strong customer base of ''very, very clever ladies'' who would purchase fabric for their craft work.
And though the business was leaving the family's hands, Mr Shekleton said he was grateful its new owner, Natalie Evans, was enthusiastic, had ''a lot of vitality and new ideas'' and planned to ''breathe new life'' into the fabric shop, and that his ''knowledgeable, helpful and patient'' staff would carry on at the store.
Mr Shekleton's father, Athol Shekleton, came to Oamaru in 1951, and when he ''thought he had secured a shop in town'', he bought stock, but availability of the venue ''fell through''.
With nowhere to sell his fabrics, the late Athol Shekleton loaded his wares into his Ford Prefect and went up the Waitaki Valley, knocking on farmers' doors, having cups of tea with farmers' wives, and for a year - until the shop's present location became available - he sold his fabrics as a travelling salesman.
''He always reckoned that was the best thing that happened,'' Mr Shekleton said.
''Because he got to know all those customers and they got to know him. So, when he opened, he already had clientele who knew him and were supportive of him and he made a lot of friends.''
The time has come for Mr Shekleton to hit the road himself; he and his second wife, Valerie, planned to take a road trip around the North Island in the new year.
''When you get to 70 you have got limited years left. What do they say, 'Time for adventure, before dementia', or so I've been told. You need to have a bit of time to do stuff,'' he said.
Mr Shekleton's first wife, Delwyn, died after fighting breast cancer three years ago. The couple had two adult children, a son and a daughter, who live in Christchurch.
