Did they have any timeslots available? What would they have shown now?
The ABC usually has these things well-planned ahead of time. They don’t just move things to next year because they are suddenly forced to make a Real Love Boat reality show for their parent company. 
It is at 8pm. Will it only be 30 mins?
From Tuesday 7 March at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview – 5 eps x 60 mins
For more than 100 years the corner shop was an institution for millions of Australians. More than a simple shop, it was the heart of many neighbourhoods. These days you can buy anything with the click of a button, but ask anyone about their childhood corner shop, and they can still describe it in vivid detail - what they bought and how they bought it, the lollies sold, what the shop looked like, the owners that ran the business.
So, in this series of Back In Time For The Corner Shop , Annabel Crabb is on hand to help Carol and Peter Ferrone and their children Julian, Sienna and Olivia navigate the highs and lows of being shopkeepers through 150 years of Australian history. Adding to their ‘time travelling’ challenge, the Ferrone family will go further back in time than they’ve ever been before, starting their adventure in the 1850s.
Back In Time For The Corner Shop was filmed in a close knit suburban community in Botany, Sydney, on a site that was a corner shop for many years up until its closure in 2016. For the first time in the series’ history, filming involved members of the public who were able to shop with the Ferrones and share in the immersive experience.
Special guests joined the family to help them understand the eras they traversed. Many of the guests, including original purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt, John Doyle and Lex Marinos have first-hand experience growing up in a family run store. Ita Buttrose, Linda Burney, Pam Burridge and Craig Foster all helped them understand societal shifts that have shaped our culture and lives.
From the 1850s to the 1990s, Back In Time For The Corner Shop charts the social, economic and historic changes that shape how we shop, live and connect as a community. And we see how the role of the corner shop - otherwise know as the general store, milk bar or mixed business - has shifted, and its status as a community hub has changed.
In 2018, Australia first fell in love with the Ferrone family when they discovered the trials and joys of living through 60 years of Australian history from the 1950s to present day in the hit series Back In Time For Dinner . In Further Back In Time For Dinner the Ferrones lived, cooked and ate their way from Federation to the 1940s.
Tuesday 7 March, 8pm
The Ferrone family begin this experiment further back in time than ever before… from the 1850s to 1920s, they traverse gender roles, manual labour, preserving and packing their own wares and navigating life without calculators using British currency and imperial measurements!
The Ferrone family begin this adventure back in 1850, tasked with producing, preserving, weighing and packing their store goods while navigating imperial measurements. The men work as the face of the business, serving customers, and the women undertaking the intensive manual labour behind the scenes to keep their shelves stocked. In the shop there are no plastic bags, fridges, electric scales or calculators- everything must be weighed and packaged by hand, testing the patience of their modern customers. The episode has the Ferrones navigating drought, WW1, and the Spanish flu pandemic. And depending on the economic conditions of the time, home delivery options range from horse and cart to a very wonky wheelbarrow.
Guests to the shop include original purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt who recounts stories of his childhood spent working in the family store and how Chinese immigrants brought the riches of tea and new foods to our shores. The Ferrones also discover the dark side of the burgeoning Australia sugar industry when (Waskam) Emelda Davis, a descendent of South Sea Islanders, tells the story of members of her family that were forcibly brought to Australia to work in the sugar industry.
Interesting scheduling by the ABC. Usually on Tuesdays, it is a 30-minute show at 8pm (e.g. Anh’s Brush with Fame) followed by a hour-long program (e.g. Catalyst) at 8.30pm.
The 8pm start puts Back in Time for Corner Shop directly against the latter stages of Married at First Sight, with both shows finishing at around 9pm.
I’m sure those shows don’t have the same audiences.
They were doing this on Thursday nights for a while. One hour shows from 8pm.
Tuesday 14 March 8.30pm
The Ferrone family are put to the test as they live through the highs and lows of running a corner shop through one of the most tumultuous periods of Australian history.
With World War 1 behind them, Australians can start to enjoy themselves again, as they make the most of the roaring twenties. The Ferrones experience ANZAC Day for the first time, promote Australian made products and enjoy some much-needed family time at the park with their first take-out meal in 70 years.
But the good times come crashing down along with Wall Street, and hard times cast a familiar shadow over the thirties. After finding solace in sport, and converting their corner shop into a milk bar, the Second World War puts the brakes on any further recovery, as the Ferrones face their final struggle of the last three decades, rationing, and liquid stockings!
Guests to the store include actor and director Lex Marinos, who grew up in a milk bar in Wagga Wagga and tells the story of the proliferation of milk bars across Australia, introduced and run by Greek migrants. Annabel Crabb joins the Ferrones as they celebrate the 1947 royal wedding, which at the time was a welcome distraction from the war’s grim aftermath.
Tuesday 21 March 8.00pm
It’s the post-war 1950s, which sees a radical boom in technology, mass production and commercialisation, and the supermarket is coming. This newly introduced retail phenomenon is a major challenger to the corner shop.
Carol Ferrone is thrilled when she gets to drive a shiny family car, but this new freedom of mobility also spells trouble for the humble corner store. For the first time consumers can fill their car boots (and new fridges) to the brim with groceries purchased from the supermarket.While the Ferrones’ shop embraces a new range of mass-produced goods, including sliced bread, they must also diversify to keep customers loyal and interested. Continental deli meats, lollies, milkshakes and flowers are all attempts to bring shoppers through the door and away from ‘one-stop-shop’ supermarkets. During all this, Australia does away with the pound and the Ferrones must tackle currency decimalisation.
The 1960s is an era of cultural and social change, teenagers start to form a sense of identity that challenges the control of their parents. Linda Burney, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, visits the store to
Tuesday 28 March 8.00pm
In the 1970’s the Ferrone’s humble corner store has transformed to be more like today’s mixed business convenience store, the hours are long and competition is fierce.
Activism is at an all-time high with youth and women using their voice to fight for equality and liberation. While newspapers deliver the news thrice daily, Cleo magazine is at the forefront of encouraging gender equality with racy male centrefolds and rule- breaking female fashions. In this episode, Ita Buttrose, former editor of Cleo magazine outlines how the magazine challenged the status quo.
As a nation, our attention shifts to health with the reduction in tobacco advertising, and smoking, but a rise in processed foods has an impact on the national waistline.
Trailblazing women’s surf champ Pam Burridge inspires Sienna to stand tall on a surfboard.
Demtel TV salesman Tim Shaw gives the Ferrones tips on the art of upselling in the face of rising competition from supermarkets.And Socceroo Craig Foster educates the Ferrones about the beginnings of Australia’s obsession with football and a game that put us as a nation on the world stage.
Episode 4 will be of interest to TV history fans.
Is this a 4 part series?
5 parts
Back In Time For The Corner Shop starts tonight.
Highly recommend this season. The early episodes are a huge eyeopener to early retail in Australia while the later ones may possibly bring back memories and possibly lead to some discussion in other areas on the forum about the history of not just retail but telephones, the www and even sports broadcasting history.
Tuesday 4 April 8.00pm
In the 1980s and 90s the family must work even longer hours to stay relevant and make a profit. Can they diversify and stave off the demise of the corner store?
In the 1980s, the newly-named Botany Corner Store is looking more colourful than ever before, and to keep up with competition, the family has now stacked the shelves with every imaginable item – from nail polish to stockings and plastic toys galore.
The 80s is the golden age of the TV and radio commercials, and the Ferrones are marketing their store to the community with their very own jingle, helped by none other than broadcasting legend John Doyle, aka Rampaging Roy Slaven.
To keep diversifying, the corner store is adding VHS rentals and cheap, hot meals – which are dangerously unhealthy. Pioneering health professional Rosemary Stanton visits to explain the impact of the new Australian diet. As Australia enters a new decade - the 90s - our economic landscape shifts. Unemployment increases to 11% and crime soars and the Ferrones’ store is not immune. Plastic waste also continues to be a problem, and War On Waste host Craig Reucassel visits to explain the devastating impact on our planet.
As pressure to reinvent the store intensifies – they introduce a gelato and coffee bar as well as an internet café – but it is not enough, and the Ferrones end their experience at the end of the millenium. Despite the upheaval over the decades, one thing has remained constant: their beloved community. As Carol says with a tear in her eyes, “we’ve made friends for life!”
Production credit: Produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production for the ABC. Warner Bros. Head of Entertainment Caroline Swift. Warner Bros. Supervising Executive Producer Nicole Rogers. Executive Producer Clare Bath. ABC Acting Head of Factual Richard Huddleston. ABC Factual Manager Julie Hanna. ABC Executive Producer Madeleine Hawcroft.
I saw the first episode last night (on my PVR recording). It was a fascinating glimpse into the retail history of Australia, interwined with the major events of the day. The arts department at Warner Bros ITP did a brilliant job fitting out the building inside and out, and also having to change the decorations in between the filming periods.
As Annabel pointed out in the episode, the building itself used to be an actual corner store which closed in 2016. It is located at the corner of Trevelyan and Swinbourne Streets in Botany in Sydney.
The ABC News website has an extensive backstory article on the show, including a chat with Carol Ferrone.
I started watching “Back In Time For The Corner shop” tonight I didn’t even realise until it started that this is actually a follow on series from “back in time for dinner” which I didn’t even know about until now. Will defiantly check it out.
I don’t think you’d be going in anyone’s face by watching it. No one’s stopping you!
After Back in Time for the Corner Shop, Carol Ferrone has filmed several episodes of The Cook Up with Adam Liaw, some of which can now be seen on SBS on Demand.
Saw my recording of the final episode of Back in Time for the Corner Shop yesterday. A sad end, as the Ferrones’ corner shop just couldn’t compete against the supermarkets, convenience stores and service stations, and closed its doors in 1999, just like 2,000 other corner stores and milk bars around Australia during the period.
Overall, it was a well-produced series, giving the audience (millennials in particular) a glimpse into Australian retail and social history.
Just millennials watched it? 
Back in Time for the Corner Shop will make its NZ premiere on Sky Open on Wednesday, January 31, at 7.30pm.
