Club rugby crowds on a night out after the game would be a stable lot, but less could be said, on a long-term basis at least, for the future of other big rugby crowds amid the announcement of plans to merge the Hawke's Bay and Manawatu in an audacious package known as the Central Vikings which would ultimately fail because of the limited number of games played at the park in town.
In summer, the blossoming cruise liner trade would help. And so it is that Mr Buckley on a rainy Friday afternoon in early March has seen the bulk of that traffic come and go and ponders what lies ahead for the next few months.
"You do have to be able to read the seasons," he says. Weather-wise, business-wise, and even technologically.
Being a wet day yesterday, lunchtime business was probably only half of what it would have been had it been a fine day.
"Decks are everything," he says.
A bad summer, weather-wise, could cut business 30-40 per cent, but the worst he can remember was counter-balanced by the presence in town for a fortnight of dozens of yachties for a World Championship based at the nearby Napier Sailing Club.
When Shed 2 made its bold entry, there was a burgeoning entertainment market based around live sports telecasts on big screens, but it was soon apparent there would be significant impacts as larger screens became more available in private homes.
Having entered the trade from an accountancy background and developing stock and payroll systems for the hospitality industry, he says he's "probably" been through three eras.
They're about a seven-year cycle, and in the most recent era Shed 2 moved away from the nightclub market and focused on food service, most of it now sourced locally to meet demands of the tourism market — which he calculated at about 70 per cent in summer.
It's matched with local wine, and a strong component of local craft beers.
It also meets local market changes, more commonly couples dining than groups blokes in for beers.
Mr Buckley, a former senior rugby player and coach, still covets some of the sports market. All Blacks matches are still a big hit and handy for the non-tourist season, during which he hosts about 100 functions, generally business or family.
When Shed 2 started, he says there were about 23 licensed premises in Hawke's Bay. "Now ... there're hundreds," he says.
It's possibly more in line with the original philosophy, having seen dockside hospitality trade developments overseas and realising the opportunity in New Zealand.
At 22 years, on the one site, he's a stayer. "Not for too much longer," he says. "Maybe a year or two."
