By Charlene Gatt
WEST Footscray entrepreneur Asha Martin has opened Australia’s first retail coffin and urn shop in her home suburb.
Ms Martin officially opened the new Caskets Direct store along Barkly St last week because of strong demand by her clients.
Ms Martin has been running the online business from home for the past two years.
“I’ve been getting lots of families that want to come and look at the coffins and the urns and it’s just been by public demand,” she said.
“There’s a real need to have that one-on-one meeting with the family and they can come in and see the quality of the products.”
The showroom is currently open by appointment.
Ms Martin’s coffins, which she designs herself, sell from $680 for a basic flat lid coffin with timber and metal handles to $1299 for a deluxe casket. At funeral parlours, most coffins retail upwards from $3000.
She currently stores all the coffins and caskets in a Tottenham warehouse.
Ms Martin has also developed an environmentally friendly line of coffins made from eco wool and is developing a range of biodegradable cremation urns that has already got a distributor in the United States.
