Cam is one of those people who make you smile. He is the face of Four Square in Wanaka and is a face known to probably everyone in the town. Especially those who forgot something at the supermarket.

He’s been there now for eight years and has no plans to move on.

“I’ve got nothing else to do and besides, no one would employ me – I need too many smoke breaks,” he says.

His life seems pretty much work, work, and more work, starting at 5am offloading trucks at the shop and continuing until 10pm. And wait, there’s more – six months ago he had the opportunity through Foodstuffs to take on a new Four Square store at Albert Town.

“It’s baby steps at this stage for that one,” Cam said.

So how many hours a week does he work? “Just put ‘huge’,” he said.

As he said, anyone with a small business just does that. That’s just the way it is.

Cam’s been a hard worker all his life. He did holiday jobs while at school in his Maniototo hometown. “There was no choice – you had to work.”

Afterwards he became a shearer, first in the Maniototo, then on to Taranaki, Western Australia, then the UK.

After five years of this he had an awakening of sorts. “I decided I was too fat and lazy to carry on with that.”

After that rash, (his word), decision, he decided self-employment was for him so he moved back to New Zealand to Dunedin where he had vending machines “everywhere” and then bought the Rob Roy Dairy with his older brother Mike.

They moved it from a site on George Street to the corner of George and Albany Streets.

Mike moved on, Cam bought him out and stayed there for 20 years.

“It’s world famous, that dairy, for its ice creams and milkshakes, and it’s still going strong. And when you have 20,000 students pass by each day, that’s kind of handy.”

During the world-famous Rob Roy chapter, Cam married Julie. They met “somewhere in Europe” while they were both there on holiday and that was that. Julie had been a business banker in Perth, but when she made the move to Dunedin she re-trained as a dental nurse.

And at the end of the Rob Roy chapter they scouted around looking for what was next and decided on Wanaka and the Four Square. Wanaka had been a second home in a way to Cam as his parents had a crib at Makarora when he was young.

Cam (Campbell) and Julie Sinclair’s two daughters, Nikita, 14, and Evie, 15, both work in the store and at times at New World. It’s total family involvement for the Sinclair family. The work ethic is admirable.

Cam attracts reliable staff (one member is still there after 20 years, another ten).

He admits, however, that finding staff in Wanaka is, for all businesses here, an issue. Expensive housing and rental costs did not help this.

He’s a strong believer in community and donates to a huge list of groups and causes in Wanaka, including Food for Love, junior netball and rugby.

“As a small local business I like to help the community as much as I can.” Donations can be either food or money, depending on the need.

On the subject of change in Wanaka, Cam accepts it as inevitable. However, he said early consultation with businesses about the current proposed changes to the township would have been preferable.

He sees change in the shop too, with so many customers now seeking gluten-free goods, which they pay “horrendous” prices for.

What about theft? “All businesses have this. It’s a big thing. I don’t see any particular reason for it. They’re just naughty people.”

Cam couldn’t recall when he last had a holiday. Ask him what he does to relax and he has to think.

“I guess lie on the couch, spend time with family and friends.”.

He is 50 – so what did he do to celebrate? “I worked, then I had maybe one too many beers,” he said.

The family make a great team for Four Square. Cam attributes a lot of the success to Julie.

“Now she’s got a few clues. I don’t have that many. If it wasn’t for her I could be lost someplace.”

Hard working - and humble.

PHOTO: Supplied