The neighbourhood came out in force to the official re-opening of the Fresh Feast by Pentaris Fruit which had been gutted by a fire three years ago.
Geoffrey Rush, academy award-winning actor, was among the famous neighbours to attend the re-opening, along with Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, and noted restaurateur and food writer Stephanie Alexander AO.
“They have all been loyal customers of Pentaris Fruit for years. Geoffrey Rush has been a customer of ours since 1988, when he was just starting off in art and theatre, and even today, in spite of his magnitude as an actor, he remains very grounded and very real and still shops from us whenever he is in Australia”, owner Helen Pentaris told Neos Kosmos.
The opening night, she adds, was a way to bring the community together and to thank them for their loyalty and ongoing support throughout their journey to rebuild their business, following the devastating fire that destroyed it three years ago.
The friends and regulars who came together were thrilled to see up close, how funny, entertaining and grounded their famous neighbours were as they described their connection with the local shops and the community of Hawthorn.
Geoffrey Rush, was dramatic and hilarious as he described during the launch, his connection to Pentaris Fruit, Chris and Helen, Steven, Maria and Stavros amongst others, through the years, and how welcome they felt from the day they moved in the area 34 years ago.
Steven Pentaris, whose father Chris began the business 46 years ago, said that along with the well-known neighbours several hundred people from the neighbourhood attended the official opening of the shop on Tooronga Road, Hawthorn East on Tuesday night.
“Geoffrey Rush and wife Jane Menelaus first came to the shop in 1988, Josh Frydenberg lives nearby and we have been supplying Stephanie Alexander with produce for 17 years,’ Mr Pentaris told Neos Kosmos.
The new edition of the shop features “The Great Wall of Athens” that includes a selection of quality Greek products such as boutique extra-virgin olive oils, biodynamic honeys, various mountain teas, mineral waters, cook books and more. It is also the first shop to sell Grecian Purveyor products that are usually sold online only.
Mr Pentaris said that while the business had always prided itself on offering a personalised approach where the staff knows everyone’s names, a self-service section was a new element to the reopened business.
“We also have a new big juice and smoothie bar,” Mr Pentaris said.
He said the spirit of the neighbourhood was never more apparent than when within in an hour of the fire that gutted the premises in November 2018 a nearby business McCoppins Food and Wine offered Pentaris as space to operate within their premises.
“We ran as a pop-up store working in unison, people would come to shop at McCoppins and would also buy from us. They kept us in business while we were re-building and some of our produce is still sold there,” Mr Pentaris said. “We are just three shops from them.”
Mr Pentaris said his late grandparents Stavros and Stella came to Australia from Lesvos in 1964, when his father Chris was 12 years old. In his late teens Chris Pentaris worked in a South Yarra fruit shop for the next five years. He decided that he wanted to start his own business and when the Hawthorn location came up, he bought into it with help from his family.
“Dad turned the business around and we have come to pride ourselves on providing Grade-A, premier produce. It is very ‘comical’ store: we like to joke around with the customers who we know by name and there is good family community in this area,” said Steven Pentaris who grew up within the family business.
