❤️ Customer stories

Some notes from Debbie in 2022

I’ve been wanting to write these stories for a while — about some of the customers who have been part of my family’s life.
They’re heartfelt. This first story triggered me to start typing.
You may even recognise yourself or a friend.

Kris Harrold

A long-time customer of ours is now a resident at Arcare, where our father Nick lives.
I can’t describe the happiness it gave my father when he recently discovered she was there.
Kris was also so happy to see him.

I asked Dad, “How do you feel that Kris is here?”
He replied, “I feel at home.”

He wanted to pay for her lunch — because that’s the gentleman he is — but the lunches are already paid for in our fees.
I tried to explain it to him.

I brought Dad figs from my tree, and he insisted we give them to Kris because he remembered how much she loves them.

Kris was a biochemist at The Alfred. She’s now 80, but he still calls her kopela — “young girl” in Greek.
I guess that’s how he remembers her, because that’s what she was in 1960.

If she walks past, he makes me go up to her to say hello so she doesn’t feel alone.
I think he feels like he should protect her because he’s known her for so many years.

This week I met Kris’s daughter. She reminded me how she loved it when Dad would give her a Granny Smith apple wrapped in purple tissue paper as a little girl. 🍏

Kris’s sister, Kathy, recalls with joy how the fruit and veg were packed in wooden boxes, each in paper bags.
She loved helping unpack the “gifts.”

Dad said to her, “You lived in the house near the park (Lucas St). There was a big dog.”
Kathy stopped to think, then remembered the big dog next door that bit the neighbour’s child on the face.

Jean Garrow & Margie (pictured below in 2018)

For me, Margie will forever be known as the beautiful lady as old as our business.
She was still in her mum’s tummy (or a toddler), when Jean started shopping with us in 1960.

All the locals know Margie for her special talents and the love she exudes. She’s the perfect celebrant!

As a St Leonard’s student, Margie also got to hang out with friends in the music room upstairs at our shop in the ’70s with our older brother.
Apparently, those who reached the top of the stairs had entered the kingdom of “cool.” ✌🏼

Jean has always been such a lovely, refined lady. Dad used to let her get her own fruit, add up her own account, and put the money in the till (and take her own change).

For a short time, Jean took me to tennis lessons at St Paul’s Church in Were Street.
Mum desperately wanted me to learn tennis, but it wasn’t my thing!

Jodie R

Every time I serve Jodie in the shop, I get flashes of her mother, Sue — patiently driving my mother, Nina, around about 30 years ago.

She took Mum to bathroom showrooms and tile shops to help her adapt our bathroom for her early-onset Parkinson’s.
It would have been a hard gig — Mum was very particular about what she wanted!

I remember Sue at my front gate with Mum in her car, stopping by to see my baby, Sophia — now 31.
Jodie is always such a delight to serve.

 Roz

It was the late ’90s, and Dad told us about a new customer who’d appeared out of the blue.
This week, he told me he remembers her as his “best customer.”

He also remembers her boys and her demeanour — proud, strong, friendly, and easy to deal with.

I remember the exact day, like a movie in my head, when Dad pointed to Roz getting into her car.
He was so proud to tell me she could drive a forklift and was very strong — probably insisting on carrying her own heavy boxes!

She’s always been one step ahead of her time.

Sandy Cook

Now a grandmother herself, Sandy remembers being a little girl when Dad delivered to her family.
She always came to our shop so well-dressed, babies in tow.

I still remember the coloured hairpin her little girl wore while sitting on the wooden bench in 1991.

Even though she’s moved away, Sandy still shops with us whenever she can.
She always reminds me that we’re “the best in her eyes.”

 Evie Sheezel

Evie still shops with us. Her parents owned a beautiful high-end children’s clothing brand called Robek in the ’60s.
Her mother was kind enough to give me access to the range before it went out to the exclusive store, Georges.

She liked my mum — and apparently me too!
I was dressed the best and loved being a little fashionista.

My favourite was a blue zip dress that I had in several sizes. (Below pictured in 1968 with my mother, Nina.)

 Joelene

Joelene was one of the first to lovingly handmake baby gingham bunny rugs, which were first sold at Georges.
She gave me one for my firstborn — I still cherish it.

I’ll never forget how overwhelmed I was by the gifts customers gave me.
It was endless — a sign of how loved my parents were in the community.

 Memories & Faces

Estelle — your sweet voice I’ll never forget.
When my mother passed away 28 years ago, I couldn’t look at you without crying.
You reminded me so much of Mum and the shop.

You once showed me around your beautiful home in Halifax St — one I’d admired as a kid walking home from BPS. I felt very special that day.

Frida — I remember when you tried to set me up with a Greek podiatrist in my early 20s. You and Mum had good intentions!

Mrs Zeleny — Even though Dad’s days started at 3 a.m., he’d still stop by to feed your cat at night while you were away on conferences. You must have been a good lady!

More Little Stories

We still laugh about the time Dad delivered a box of fruit and veggies and, at the customer’s request, put her casserole on for dinner.

Recently, a lady popped into the shop and started crying — the visit brought back memories of coming to our store as a child.

There’s another customer (who shall remain nameless) that Dad remembers as a little boy, pinching comics from outside the shop in the ’60s. 😂

Mr Lea and Mrs Brophy both had swimming pools they kindly let me use as a teenager.
I’d swim for hours on my own — I’ll never forget that.

There are many more stories. I’ll try to add them as I remember them.

 In Conclusion

When I was young, I was always astounded when customers said,
“I’ve known you since you were a baby.”

Time went so slowly as a child — I couldn’t imagine they’d known me that long.
Now I find myself saying the same thing to our customers’ children.

It’s the most rewarding part of our job — seeing them as newborns and watching them grow into wonderful young adults.

I appreciate everyone so much — old and new customers alike.
I feel so lucky to have lived this shop life.
It’s about more than making a dollar — it’s about creating lifelong bonds and memories.
It’s about community.

In the early ’80s, my mother wrote in green texta on the fridge wall:

“Nina and Nick retire in ’87.”

That seemed like a lifetime away. I knew how sad it would make me — even though it might have meant more time together or a family holiday (which we never had).

1987 came and went.
I’m glad they never really retired — and I wouldn’t change a thing.

That’s the small business life.
I hope it lives on forever.

Debbie Argyropoulos (née Kondelos)
Born 1963

P.S. By coincidence, we pulled out the old books today — and you can see many of the people I’ve mentioned, along with our old “loyalty system.”