Five simultaneous retirements have created an unusual chance to buy almost the whole main street of a small Central Otago town.

New owners are being sought for three homes, two bed-and-breakfasts, an accommodation park, historic pub and the oldest continuously operating general store in the country, in Oturehua.

PGG Wrightson Real Estate has listed the businesses in three bundles, inviting buyers to "buy one, or buy them all", among the rolling green pastures of the Ida Valley.

Grahame and Liz Jones have run the Oturehua Railway Hotel for 17 years. Photo: RNZ/ Katie Todd

Visitors often describe the town as "a step back in time", but locals Grahame and Liz Jones have been looking to the future and plan to hang up their aprons at the Oturehua Railway Hotel.

They likened their business to the community's "front room", having spent almost 17 years pouring pints and serving hot home-cooked meals, including a famed steak and Guinness pie.

Grahame Jones said the 1890s building, a former coaching inn, had been a challenge to start with, but now featured folding doors, a beer garden, playground, pétanque court, checkerboards and darts.

A view down Oturehua's main street, with Gilchrist's Store and adjoining house in the foreground. Photo: RNZ/ Katie Todd

He said their move to Oturehua from Christchurch had initially been a culture shock, but they had come to relish the slow pace, safety and their role as social networkers in the community.

Jones said it was the kind of pub that was usually packed at 5pm - but rarely needed to be open after 9pm.

"The pub is important to the community and as a publican you meet some amazing people," he said.

"It's been good to us. We've sort of stayed on, and stayed on."

The Jones' were selling the pub, bed and breakfast and their adjoined three-bedroom house for enquiries over $599,000, with plans to move to North Canterbury.

"When we eventually sell, we will miss it a lot. We will miss meeting people," Liz Jones said.

Grahame Jones said it was a chance for someone younger to step in and make the most of a "boom town".

"When we came here, there were 24 people [in Oturehua]. We're getting close to 60 now, so we've probably got the strongest population growth in the country," he said.

John and Helen Hellier at Gilchrist's Store. Photo: RNZ/ Katie Todd

Gilchrist store: Custodians of history

Across the road, John and Helen Hellier were preparing to hand over the keys to the Gilchrist store, the country's longest-operating general store.

With shelves stocked with everything from postcards to pliers, and teabags to typewriters, the building served as both museum and community lifeline.

The Helliers said they had cherished their 11-year tenure, which included visits from TV stars, diplomats and sportsmen, and the release of a book about the store's history.

The story behind NZ's longest-operating general store

John Hellier, who has a farming background, said the job had been his best by far.

"You never know who's going to come in the door. The world comes to us here," he said.

Inside Gilchrist's Store, shelves brim with everything from memorabilia to day-to-day groceries - part everyday general store, part time capsule for visitors passing through Oturehua. Photo: RNZ/ Katie Todd

"We've really enjoyed it. It's been marvellous, but it's time to go," Helen Hellier said.

The store building was owned by a local farming community trust, which had twice rescued it from financial collapse.

The sale, with an asking price of $885,000, included a neighbouring three-bedroom house, a bed and breakfast that slept up to six and the local postal contract.

The Helliers put the business on the market before the Covid-19 pandemic and said it had been challenging finding a successor.

Helen Hellier said the business could suit a fit couple brimming with initiative, or potentially people who wanted to add a kitchen or bakery to the store.

"The next owner or owners can do anything really. They are their own bosses. They can do anything that they like as long as they do what the store has always done," she said.

Bill May at Crow's Nest Accommodation. Photo: RNZ/ Katie Todd

Crow's Nest Accommodation: A labour of love

A short distance away, Bill May was also reluctantly preparing to step back from his eight-year venture, Crow's Nest Accommodation.

May said the price by negotiation listing encompassed his home - a 1926 mudbrick character house - and lodging capable of hosting up to 25 rail trail guests at a time.

"It is time to actually seriously retire. I'm just tapping 78," he said.

"It's not as if I don't like it. I really love it. I'd be quite happy just to stay here. But being practical, it's better to get somebody else. While I've still got my marbles and I can walk well, I should get on with it."

May, who used to own a Tauranga agricultural machinery business, said building and maintaining the Crow's Nest had been a labour of love inspired by his late mother.

"She was dead keen on me moving down south. She said 'you've always liked Central Otago' and she was right," he said.

May taught himself how to iron and fold sheets, eventually constructing a collection of self-contained units and bunkrooms with shower and bathroom blocks, a communal kitchen, hot tub, outdoor bath and brazier.

He said he had come to love group bookings, which ranged from Dutch cyclists, to a film crew from a new East of Eden adaptation, to attendees of the annual Under Rough Ridge Writers Retreat.

Following the sale, May had no plans to leave the village, having bought a home just across the road.

He acknowledged that it was uncanny to see so many for sale signs in one place, in a quirk of fate that meant everyone was retiring simultaneously.

"It's not a good look, the for sale signs. The fact is, the village is getting older, although I am the oldest of the three [vendors]" he said.