EVERY business operator strives to find something that will help them stand out in the crowd but very few have what Barbeques Galore in Coffs Harbour has - a ghost called Eric.

Strange goings-on at the store, such as stock mysteriously being moved, have owner Jim Welsh and manager Brendon Sinclair convinced a spirit is the culprit, and they're calling on local residents to help solve the case.

Jim said the majority of incidents occurred after the store's three staff members locked the front doors after a day's trade.

"Last Thursday the boys set up the furniture to make sure everything's right, and the next morning we found chairs turned and tipped over onto the walkway in the showroom," he said.

"The majority of it happens at night and we'd even had a stainless steel plate that came off a shelf and cut a large hole in the carpet.

"It weighed eight to 10kg and it can't just fall off on its own accord. Nobody can explain it."

The unsolved occurrences have been taking place periodically for the past five years.

Brendon said other strange incidents included door mats found folded inside the shop, the sound of footsteps from a second floor, strange smells, and items being rearranged within a stock room.

He added that prior to the construction of Home Base, the site used to be a sawmill and the ghost could somehow be linked.

Jim said he didn't believe the incidents were the work of an employee, as they had been occurring prior to the employment of current staff and the store's locks were constantly changed.

Jim's determined it's the work of the supernatural.

"At first I couldn't understand it and I thought it's got to be someone doing it as a joke but now I just can't explain it," he said.

While Brendon said the presence of the ghost, nicknamed Eric, meant coming to work was "never a dull moment", he called on anyone with a theory to come forward.

"We don't want to make a big deal of out it but the whole thing's a real mystery to us," he said.

"If anyone else knew information about the site we'd be very interested in hearing it."